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THE  ECCLESIASTICAL 

' i 

'A 

POLITY  OF  METHODISM 
Defenbeir; 


A REFUTATION  OF  CERTAIN  OBJECTIONS  TO 
THE  SYSTEM  OF  ITINERANCY 

IN 

THE  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH, 
BY  F HODGSON,  D.D. 


From  whom  the  whole  body  fitly  joined  together  and  com- 
pacted by  that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  according  to  the 
effectual  working  in  the  measu.e  of  every  part,  maketh  increase 
of  the  body  unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in  love. — Ephesians  iv,  16. 


PUBLISHED  BY  CAELTON  & PHILLIPS, 

200  MULBERRY-STREET. 

1853, 


2,  r? 

6«« 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1848,  by 

LANE  & SCOTT. 

in  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern 
District  of  New-York. 


i 3 8 


PREFACE. 


The  contents  of  this  little  volume  were  first 
^-^blished  in  a series  of  numbers  in  a weekly 
religious  periodical. 

They  are  offered  to  the  public  in  this  form,  in 
^ compliance  with  a request  of  the  Philadelphia 
5 Annual  Conference,  held  in  April,  1847.  The 
5 author  deemed  the  thoughts  here  recorded  of 
some  importance,  or  he  would  not  have  employ- 
ed  his  time  in  writing  them ; but  he  was  greatly 
3 surprised  by  the  reading  and  passage  of  the 
following  resolution  : — 

^ “ Resolved,  That  brother  Francis  Hodgson 

^ be  respectfully  requested  to  prepare  for  publi- 
^ cation,  in  book  form,  certain  articles  which  re- 
/^y^cently  appeared  from  his  pen,  under  the  title  of 
The  Ecclesiastical  Polity  of  Methodism 
DEFENDED,  and  that  we  recommend  them  to  the 
publishers  in  New- York,  to  be  issued  in  cheap 
style,  for  general  circulation.” 

This  estimation  was  favorable  beyond  his 
most  sanguine  hopes. 


1 


I -yp. 


4 


PREFACE. 


Some  may  be  ready  to  ask,  Why  write  and 
publish  another  book,  at  this  time,  in  defense 
of  the  economy  of  Methodism  ? Have  we  not 
within  a few  months  been  favored  with  the 
works  of  Stevens  and  Porter  on  the  same  sub- 
ject? It  is  due,  perhaps,  to  the  Philadelphia 
Conference  to  say,  that,  when  the  above  reso- 
lution was  passed,  these  excellent  works  were 
not  yet  published ; whereas  the  articles  which  it 
recommends  to  be  published  had  been  issued 
for  more  than  a year,  the  first  appearing  on  the 
27th  of  December,  1845. 

At  this  time  a great  many  minds,  of  various 
degrees  of  cultivation  and  power,  are  engaged 
in  the  investigation  of  social  institutions,  poli- 
tical and  ecclesiastical.  This  may  be  produc- 
tive of  much  good.  For,  although  forms  of 
government  may  not  be  of  primary  importance, 
they  may  greatly  promote  or  obstruct  the  hap- 
piness of  society.  A well-constituted  ecclesi- 
astical government  is  a mighty  engine  by  which 
the  moral  power  of  the  church  is  advantageously 
and  effectively  applied,  and  even  augmented. 
All  this  inquiry,  this  agitation,  this  shaking  of 
systems,  may  be  prelusive  to  that  more  perfect 
state  of  society  in  which  those  things  only  will 
remain  which  cannot  be  shaken. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  L 

Opposition  to  Methodism — Object  of  the  author — 
Itinerancy  objected  to — Comparison  instituted — ^Dif- 
ficulties attendant  upon  the  election  of  pastors  by 
churches  or  congregations Page  9 

CHAPTER  II. 

Difficulties  subsequent  to  election — Calls  may  he  re- 
jected— A minister  when  settled  may  not  suit — A 
church  may  he  able  to  retain  a fhvorite  minister  hut 


a short  time 17 

CHAPTER  III. 

Further  difficulties — Elections  liable  to  be  annulled — 
Authorities 22 

CHAPTER  IV. 


Manner  of  entering  the  ministry,  and  of  appointment  to 
pastoral  charge,  in  the  M.  E.  Church : in  the  Congre- 
gational and  Presbyterian  churches — The  difference 
estimated 31 


CHAPTER  V. 

Superiority  of  Metl^odism — Pastors  obtained  without 
loss  qf  time 40 


6 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Our  system  avoids  dangerous  excitements — Liabilities 
of  the  opposite  plan Page  43 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Frequent  changes  not  peculiar  to  Methodism — Advan- 
tages of  the  itinerant  system  in  respect  to  change — 
How  to  effect  the  removal  of  an  unacceptable  min- 
ister   ....  50 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  starvation  plan-— Cautionary  measures  recommend- 
ed— Adverse  consequences  of  changes — Alienation 
of  brethren— Division  . 57 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Reputation  of  the  ministry  injured — Temporal  embar- 
rassments resulting — Personal  degradation  submitted 


to . 62 

CHAPTER  X. 

Same  subject  continued  71 

* CHAPTER  XI. 


Superiority  of  Methodism  further  illustrated — Provides 
for  a more  effective  employment  of  ministerial  talent 
— Auspicious  influence  upon  young  men — Retains 
old  men  longer  in  effective  service 76 


CONTENTS. 


7 


CHAPTEK  Xn. 

Our  system  equalizes  more  than  any  other  the  labors 
and  support  of  the  ministry — Distributes  more  equally 
the  gifts  of  the  ministry — Opens  a wider  field  of  use- 
fulness   Page  81 

CHAPTER  XIIL 

Our  system  carries  the  gospel  and  its  ordinances^  where 
they  could  not  be  carried  upon  any  other  plan— Affect- 
ing picture  of  moral  desolations  incident  to  the  oppo- 
site scheme — These  avoided  by  Methodism — Keeps 
churches  supplied,  and  ministers  employed  . . 86 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Additional  objections  considered — The  Methodist  itine- 
rant ministry  shown  to  be  permanent — Favorable  to 
the  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge  and  to  growth  in 
piety 95 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Our  system  provides  suitably  for  the  universal  fondness 
for  novelty — Probable  result  of  systematic  and  judi- 
cious change  of  pastors  in  other  denominations — 
Affords  ample  opportunity  for  giving  varied  instruc- 
tion   101 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Our  system  not  unfavorable  to  study  and  pulpit  prepara- 
tion— Opinion  of  Rev.  Dr.  Baird — Practice  of  Presi- 
dent Davies — ^Provides  adequate  security  against  false 


8 


CONTENTS. 


teachers — Does  not  deprive  the  churches  of  resident 
pastors  and  teachers — Past  usefulness — Adapted  to  a 
crowded,  as  well  as  a sparse,  population  . Page  107 

CHAPTER  XVIL 

Unfounded  comparison  between  Congregational  and 
Presbyterian  evangelists  and  missionaries,  and  the 
itinerant  ministers  of  the  M.  E.  Church — Condo  ad 
Clerum  of  Rev.  A.  Newton — The  operations  of  evan- 


gelists and  missionaries  incongruous  with  the  interests 
of  a settled  ministry 118 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Methodism  does  not  deprive  its  churches  of  any  right  by 
its  mode  of  supplying  them  with  pastors  . . . 126 


THE 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM  DEFENDED. 


CHAPTER  L 

Opposition  to  Methodism — Object  of  the  author — 
Itinerancy  objected  to — Comparison  instituted — ^Dif- 
ficulties attendant  upon  the  election  of  pastors  by 
churches  or  congregations. 

The  ecclesiastical  polity  of  Methodism  is 
frequently  assailed  by  both  ministers  and 
laymen  of  the  several  leading  religious 
denominations.  It  is  represented  as  de- 
grading to  our  membership  in  general,  and 
our  ministry  in  particular,  requiring  of 
them  a very  servile  submission  to  authority ; 
as  dangerous  to  the  civil  institutions  of  the 
country ; and  as  anti-republican,  aristocrati- 
cal,  despotic,  and  unscriptural.  These  repre- 
sentations are  made  in  conversation,  tracts, 
pamphlets,  periodicals,  and  in  books,  some 
of  which  are  written  for  the  purpose,  mainly, 
of  recommending  the  polity  of  the  respect- 


10  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

ive  denominations  to  which  the  writers 
belong;  others  for  the  professed  purpose  of 
enlightening  the  public  in  respect  to  the 
evils  and  absurdities  of  Methodism. 

Now  if  we  believe  that  our  system  of 
church  government  is  Scriptural  and  ration- 
al ; and  if  we  prefer  it  because  we  conceive 
it  to  be  better  adapted  than  any  other  to 
the  great  purpose  for  which  Christ  esta- 
blished his  church  upon  earth ; can  we,  by 
our  silence,  suffer  it  to  become  the  object 
of  suspicion  and  dislike,  without  serious 
neglect  of  duty  toward  God  and  our  fellow- 
beings  ? 

I do  not  call  in  question  the  right  of  any 
to  examine  our  system,  or  to  condemn  it, 
publicly  or  privately,  if,  in  their  judgment, 
it  deserve  sucb  condemnation.  I claim 
only,  that  we,  who  view  it  in  a different 
light,  may  be  under  a solemn  obligation  to 
defend  it.  I,  for  one,  shall  endeavor  so  to 
do. 

I shall  take  up,  first,  the  manner  in 
which  our  system  distributes  ministerial 
labor,  or,  in  other  words,  our  itinerant 
ministry. 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  11 

The  grand  central  arrangement  in  the 
economy  of  Methodism— that  which  exerts 
a modifying  influence  on  all  the  other  parts 
of  the  system — is  its  itinerating  missionary 
ministry. 

As  it  is  not  my  object  to  eulogize,  but 
merely  to  defend,  I shall  proceed  at  once 
to  an  examination  of  the  objections  which 
are  urged  against  it. 

The  most  frequent,  and  perhaps  the 
most  popular,  objection  is,  that  it  does  not 
allow  the  churches  to  choose  their  own 
pastors ; and  that,  when  they  are  accident- 
ally or  providentially  suited,  they  are  not 
allowed  to  retain  the  object  of  their  prefer- 
ence. 

That  our  usages,  in  this  respect,  are  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  many  other  denomi- 
nations is  admitted.  Were  our  ministers 
and  churches  allowed  to  enter  into  mutual 
contracts,  as  theirs  do,  our  itinerancy  could 
not  exist.  This,  I think,  must  be  obvious 
to  any  one  who  will  give  the  subject  a 
moment’s  consideration.  We  should  fall, 
inevitably,  into  the  plan  of  a settled  minis- 
try. Nor  is  it  wonderful  that  particular 


12  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

churches  among  us  should  sometimes  be 
subject  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  ministers 
who  do  not  suit  them  in  every  particular. 
This  difficulty  is  peculiar  to  no  system. 
Our  brethren  who  object,  need  not  be 
astonished  to  find^  that  we  have  diligently 
inquired  how  far  we  should  be  likely  to 
avoid  it,  by  adopting  their  plan.  I pur- 
pose to  institute  a comparison  between 
our  system  and  that  by  which  particular 
churches  elect  their  pastors,  and  settle 
them  for  life,  or  for  a long  or  an  indefinite 
period. 

Can  those  churches  always  procure  the 
ministers  whom  they  prefer  above  all 
others  ? Whatsoever  diversities  of  cha- 
racter and  condition  may  characterize 
churches,  they  are  all  alike  in  some  re- 
spects ; they  all  desire  the  services  of 
those  whom  they  deem  able  ministers. 
Suppose,  then,  that  a church  is  without  a 
pastor.  The  leading  men  begin  to  consult 
with  each  other.  A meeting  must  be 
called.  An  election  must  lake  place. 
The  Rev.  John  Angell  James,  a very  po- 
pular and  useful  Independent  minister  of 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


13 


Birmingham,  in  England,  in  a work  en- 
titled “ The  Church  Member’s  Guide,” 
which  has  been  republished  in  this  country 
under  the  editorial  supervision  of  the  Rev. 

J.  O.  Choules,  an  eminent  Baptist  minister,  ^ 
and  with  an  Introduction  by  the  Rev. 
Hubbard  Winslow,  pastor  of  the  Bow- 
doin-street  Church,  Boston,”  recommends, 
that  “ a committee,  composed  of  the  dea- 
cons, or  of  the  deacons  and  a few  of  the 
most  judicious  members,  should  be  ap- 
pointed to  procure  supplies,  and  look  out 
for  candidates.”  Page  168. 

And  now  the  church’s  difficulties  com- 
mence. They  must  select  a minister  and 
determine  upon  the  amount  of  salary  to 
be  offered,  and  it  is  by  no  means  certain 
that  the  electors  will  at  once  agree  in  re- 
ference to  either.  If  the  pastorate  be  a 
desirable  one,  it  is  likely  that  a number  of 
candidates  will  display  their  capabilities 
before  them,  and  each  secure  ardent  sup- 
porters. But  it  is  important,  if  not  indis- 
pensable, that  the  election  should  be  nearly, 
if  not  quite,  unanimous.  The  reasons  are 
obvious.  No  judicious  minister  will  con- 


14  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

sent  to  place  himself  in  the  relations  con- 
templated, when  a considerable  number 
were  in  the  minority  at  his  election.  His 
happiness  and  usefulness  would  be  greatly 
hazarded  by  the  step.  This  is  also  a mat- 
ter in  which  the  peace  of  the  church  is 
deeply  involved.  Mr.  James,  in  his  re- 
marks on  the  election  of  a pastor,  says,  It 
would  be  well  for  every  church  to  have  a 
standing  rule,  that  no  pastor  should  be 
chosen  but  by  two-thirds,  or  three-fourths, 
of  the  members  present.’’  The  forni  of 
government  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
in  the  United  States  of  America,  provides, 
that  “ when  the  votes  are  taken,  if  it  ap- 
pear that  a large  majority  of  the  people 
are  averse  from  the  candidate  who  has 
a majority  of  votes,  and  cannot  be  in- 
duced to  concur  in  the  call,  the  presid- 
ing minister  shall  endeavor  to  dissuade 
the  congregation  from  prosecuting  it 
further.” 

The  difficulties  of  election  are  often  in- 
creased by  the  existence  of  parties  in  the 
church,  dividing  on  questions  of  theology 
or  reform.  There  are  old  school  and  new 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM.  15 

school.  There  are  abolitionists  and  co- 
lonizalionists.  There  are  high  church  and 
low  church.  Each  party  is  bent  upon  se- 
curBiig  such  a man  as  they  may  deem  to 
be  of  the  right  stamp.  The  majority  of 
electors  often  consists  of  inexperienced 
young  men.  These  may  urge  their  choice 
against  the  older  and  more  judicious  mem- 
bers. Mr.  James  finds  it  necessary  to  give 
the  following  caution  : Especial  defer- 

ence should  be  paid  by  the  younger  and 
inexperienced  members  of  the  church  to 
the  opinions  of  their  senior  and  more  ex- 
perienced brethren.  The  sentiments  of 
the  deacons,  and  those  individuals  who 
have  grown  gray  in  the  service  of  the 
Lord  and  the  church,  should  be  received 
with  great  attention,  and  have  great  weight. 
A youth  of  seventeen  is  a very  incompe- 
tent judge  of  ministerial  qualifications, 
compared  with  a venerable  father  of 
seventy.  That  haughty  spirit  which  leads 
a young  person,  or  a novice,  to  say,  ‘ I 
have  a vote  as  well  as  the  oldest  and 
richest,  and  have  as  much  right  to  be  heard 
and  consulted  as  they,’  is  not  the  spirit  of 


16  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

the  gospel,  but  of  turbulence  and  faction. 
How  much  more  amiable  and  lovely  is 
such  a declaration  as  the  following : ^ I, 
young  and  inexperienced,  am  a very  in- 
adequate judge  of  the  suitableness  of  a 
minister  for  this  situation,  and  therefore 
should  be  pretty  much  guided  in  my  opi- 
nion by.  the  opinion  of  others,  older  and 
wiser  than  myself.’  ” Page  170. 

Sometimes  men  of  wealth  and  influence 
set  themselves  against  the  wishes  of  the 
people.  Mr.  James  remarks,  that  ‘‘  there 
are  in  many  churches  individuals  whose 
circumstances  must  necessarily  give  pecu- 
liar weight  to  their  opinions.”  He  cautions 
such  persons  against  assuming  the  office 
of  dictators.”  He  also  says  : ‘‘  Democra- 
cies are  as  liable  to  the  control  of  a few 
leading  individuals,  probably  more  so,  than 
any  other  system ; but  then  these  indivi- 
duals should  act,  by  causing  the  people  to 
act  for  them.”  He  pronounces  an  attempt 
to  exert  their  influence,  in  opposition  to 
the  wdshes  of  the  people,  ‘‘a  most  irra- 
tional, unscriptural  assumption  of  power.” 
Page  172. 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  17 

These  are  some  of  the  diflSiculties  in  the 
way  of  a unanimous  or  satisfactory  elec- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Difficulties  subsequent  to  election — Calls  may  be  re- 
jected— A minister  when  settled  may  not  suit — A 
church  may  be  able  to  retain  a favorite  minister  but 
a short  time. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  a comparison  is 
instituted  between  the  manner  of  supply- 
ing churches  with  pastors  and  teachers, 
observed  by  the  M.  E.  Church,  and  the 
plan  of  particular  churches  electing  their 
pastors ; and  some  of  the  difficulties  which 
stand  in  the  way  of  a satisfactory  election 
are  brought  into  view. 

Let  us  now  suppose  the  election  to  have 
taken  place  with  a good  degree  of  har- 
mony. Suppose  the  choice  to  be  even 
unanimous.  A call  is  made  out,  and,  in 
due  form,  sent  to  the  person  elected.  Does 
he  come  ? He  may,  or  may  not.  Perhaps 
he  has  been  a candidate,  but  he  cannot 
accept  the  offered  salary,  and  so  rejects  the 
2 


18  POLITY  OP  METHODISM. 

call.  Perhaps  none  of  the  candidates  have 
secured  the  choice  of  the  electors.  An  able 
minister  is  called  from  some  other  church, 
but  he  declines  the  overture.  There  may 
be  a long  succession  of  these  repulses. 
Churches  are  often  obliged  to  moderate 
greatly  their  demands  in  reference  to  minis- 
terial abilities.  But  no  sooner  do  they  come 
down  to  a lower  grade  of  qualifications, 
than  their  unanimity  ceases. 

And  when  a minister  has  been  obtained, 
is  it  certain  that  the  church  will  be  satis- 
fied ? May  not  these  difficulties  very  soon 
recur  ? Congregations  are  not  unfrequent- 
ly  captivated  by  a few  dashing  sermons, 
and  find  out,  in  a short  time  after  the  set- 
tlement, that  their  new  minister  is  incom- 
petent to  the  task  he  has  assumed.  A 
speedy  dismission  ensues.  In  some  in- 
stances churches  are  imposed  upon  by 
injudicious  and  interested  recommenda- 
tions. Mr.  James  has  the  following  passage 
on  this  subject : “ Let  ministers  to  whom 
applications  are  made  by  a destitute  church, 
to  recommend  them  a candidate,  beware 
of  suffering  themselves  to  mention  the 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM.  19 

name  of  any  individual,  whom,  in  their 
conscientious  opinion,  they  do  not  think  to 
be  suitable.  To  recommend  any  person 
out  of  mere  pity,  because  he  is  destitute 
of  a situation ; or  out  of  natural  affection 
or  friendship,  because  he  happens  to  be  a 
relative  or  acquaintance;  without  regard  to 
his  character,  general  qualifications,  or 
suitableness  for  the  situation  in  question, 
is  a most  criminal  act,  and  deserves  the 
severest  reprobation  : it  is  an  act  of  the 
most  guilty  treachery  toward,  not  an  indi- 
vidual, but  a community ; not  in  reference 
to  temporal  interests,  but  to  spiritual  and 
eternal  ones.  In  some  cases  unsuitable 
recommendations  are  given  from  a love 
of  patronage ; in  others,  from  an  excess  of 
good  nature  : but  from  whatever  cause  they 
proceed,  the  mischief  they  do  is  incalcu- 
lable.'' Page  168. 

Whatever  may  be  the  causes,  certain  it 
is,  that,  in  many  instances,  ministers  are 
scarcely  settled  before  the  subject  of  their 
dismission  is  agitated. 

But  let  us  try  a more  favorable  suppo- 
sition in  regard  to  the  capabilities  of  the 


20  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

new  incumbent.  The  church  has  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  a young  man  of  very 
superior  qualifications ; are  they  sure  of  re- 
taining him  ? It  frequently  happens  that 
after  a church  has  been  destitute  for  a long 
time,  and  has  gone  to  great  expense  of 
pains  and  money  to  secure  the  pastoral 
services  of  some  favorite,  he  is  settled  but 
a short  time  before  a call  comes  from  some 
other  church.  He  accepts  it;  and  while 
there  may  be  joy  on  the  one  hand,  there 
are  mortification  and  heart-burnings  on  the 
other.  The  deserved  encomiums  which 
were  bestowed  upon  him,  for  the  purpose 
of  increasing  his  popularity  and  usefulness, 
among  those  who,  it  was  supposed,  would 
be  long  favored  with  his  ministrations, 
were  the  means  of  attracting  toward  him 
the  attention  of  some  richer  and  more  in- 
fluential congregation,  and  have  resulted 
in  his  removal. 

Large  and  wealthy  city  congregations 
have  very  great  advantages  over  others,  on 
the  electing  plan,  as  they  can  call  and  se- 
cure the  ablest  men,  from  all  parts  of  the 
land,  and  retain  them  as  long  as  it  may 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  21 

seem  desirable  ; inasmuch  as  they  cannot 
be  called  away  to  places  offering  either  a 
better  support  or  wider  fields  of  usefulness. 

The  foregoing  argument  has  proceeded 
upon  the  supposition  that  the  prerogative 
of  choosing  and  settling  pastors  is  in  the 
hands  of  a majority  of  the  whole  member- 
ship of  the  churches  respectively.  What 
if  it  should  appear,  on  inquiry,  that  this  is 
not  the  case  ? It  must  be  kept  in  mind 
that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  churches  which 
elect  their  pastors,  exclude  females  from 
the  privilege  of  voting ; and  yet,  in  many 
cases,  this  sex  constitutes  a majority,  or 
two-thirds,  of  the  church.  It  also  often 
occurs,  that  the  female  portion  of  the  church 
embodies  the  greater  amount  of  piety, 
intelligence,  wealth,  and  influence ; so 
that  the  pastor,  after  all,  may  be  elected 
by  the  smaller  part  of  the  church,  and  that 
part,  it  may  be,  the  least  competent  to 
judge  of  his  qualifications. 


22 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Further  difficulties — Elections  liable  to  be  annulled — 
Authorities. 

*• 

Having  thus  adverted  to  some  of  the  dif- 
ficulties which  embarrass  those  churches 
which  elect  their  pastors,  in  relation  to 
both  choosing'  and  retaining^  I further  re- 
mark, that,  in  New-England  Congrega- 
tionalism, there  is  a power  outside  of  the 
church  by  which  the  election  of  the  church 
may  be  wholly  defeated. 

The  Rev.  E.  R.  Tyler  of  New- Haven, 
Connecticut,  in  a work  recently  published, 
entitled,  “ Congregational  Catechism,”  asks 
the  question,  “ In  what  manner  are  men 
raised  to  the  office  of  pastor  in  Congrega- 
tional churches  ?”  He  answers,  By  the 
free  election  of  the  brethren,  and  a solemn 
induction  into  office.’'  He  then  goes  on 
to  describe  the  process  as  follows : ‘‘  The 
brethren  of  the  church,  having  first  fixed 
their  eyes  upon  a candidate  for  the  pastoral 
office  over  them,  and  sought  the  divine 
guidance  in  a matter  of  so  great  import- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


23 


ance,  by  fasting  and  prayer,  make  the 
election ; and  if  the  ecclesiastical  society 
concur  in  their  choice,  and  the  pastor  elect 
accepts  the  appointment,  a council  of 
neighboring  churches  is  called,  by  whose 
aid  he  is  ordained,  or  solemnly  inducted 
into  office.'^ 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Hawes,  of  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, in  his  “ Tribute  to  the  Memory 
of  the  Pilgrims,”  remarking  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Congregational  churches  of 
New-England,  says:  There  is  another 

feature  in  our  ecclesiastical  polity  which 
I must  not  pass  unnoticed.  It  relates  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  independence 
and  purity  of  the  churches  are  secured,  in 
consistency  with  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  the  congregation.  These  two  bodies 
are  in  some  respects  united  and  one,  but 
in  others  are  distinct  independent  cor- 
porations. In  the  call  and  settlement  of  a 
minister,  which  is  the  great  business  they 
have  to  transact  together,  each  exerts  a 
separate  and  uncontrolled  agency.  And 
yet  the  concurrence  of  each  is  indispensa- 
ble to  the  validity  of  their  respective  acts. 


24  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

The  cl'urch  has  no  power  to  place  a min- 
ister over  the  congregation,  nor  has  the 
congregation  any  power  to  place  a minister 
over  the  church.  In  effecting  the  settle- 
ment of  a pastor,  the  concurrent  voice 
of  the  church  and  society  is  essential.’^ 
Page  58. 

Here,  then,  is  a corporation  distinct  from 
the  church,  and  capable  of  exerting  a sepa- 
rate agency,  without  the  concurrence  of 
which  the  church  cannot  elect  and  settle  a 
pastor,  no  matter  if  unanimous  in  its 
choice.  The  church,  we  are  told,  has  no 
power  to  place  a pastor  over  the  congre- 
gation, and,  of  consequence,  it  has  no 
power  to  place  a pastor  over  itself.  If  the 
ecclesiastical  society  cannot  place  a pastor 
over  the  church,  it  can  withhold  its  concur 
rence,  and  so  compel  the  church  to  elect 
whom  it  chooses,  or  go  without  a pastor. 
And  this  is  the  boasted  ‘‘  free  election  of 
the  brethren  !’’  And,  mark ! this  power 
of  defeating  the  church  is  in  the  hands  of 
irreligious  men.  They  do  not  belong  to 
the  church.  The  members  of  the  church 
and  the  members  of  this  corporation  act 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  25 

separately  in  this  matter.  No  particular 
moral  qualifications  are  requisite  to  entitle 
any  one  to  membership  in  this  society, 
except,  perhaps,  a willingness  to  support 
public  worship.  They  may  make  those 
high  spiritual  qualifications  which  engage 
the  preference  of  the  church,  the  very  rea- 
son for  refusing  their  concurrence.  And, 
still  further,  this  society,  distinct  from  the 
church,  owns  all  the  church  property ; de- 
termines what  amount  of  salary  shall  be 
offered  to  the  candidate  on  condition  of  his 
accepting  the  call;  and  is  the  party  re- 
sponsible in  law  for  the  raising  and  the 
payment  of  the  salary : (see  Dr.  Baird’s 
Religion  in  America,  vol.  ii,  page  227 :)  so 
that  the  church  sustains  a very  subordinate 
and  dependent  part  in  this  important 
business. 

It  would  seem  to  have  been,  if  it  is  not 
now,  a disputed  question  among  our  Con- 
gregational brethren,  whether  the  church 
should  have  precedence  of  the  society,  in 
the  election  of  a pastor,  or  the  society  the 
precedence  of  the  church.  Professor  Up- 
ham,  in  his  Ratio  Disciplinse,  argues  this 


26  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

point,  and  thus  concludes  against  allowing 
parishes,  or  ecclesiastical  societies,  the  pre- 
cedence: The  evil  consequences  alluded 

to  undoubtedly  are,  the  introduction,  in  a 
short  time,  of  a corrupt  ministry  ; the  sub- 
sequent corruption  of  the  churches ; and, 
in  this  way,  the  ultimate  ruin  of  both.  That 
such  consequences  would  follow  is  ob- 
vious, when  we  remember  the  depravity 
of  the  human  heart,  and  when  we  take  into 
the  account  that  multitudes  are  fond  of 
having  moral  teachers,  whose  practice  at 
least  is  as  wanting  in  strictness  and  purity 
as  their  own.’’ 

But,  if  it  would  be  so  dangerous  for  the 
society  to  take  the  lead  in  the  settlement 
of  a pastor,  can  it  be  safe  for  them  to  have 
the  power  that  is  accorded  to  them  ? 

Whatever  disadvantages  the  Methodist 
churches  may  be  subject  to,  they  are  not 
liable  to  having  their  pastors  chosen  and 
forced  upon  them  by  irreligious  men — 
men  who  are  not  even  church  members. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  restriction  to  which 
Congregational  churches  are  subject  in 
the  selection  of  their  pastors.  The  Rev. 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  27 

Dr.  Bacon,  of  New-Haven,  in  his  Church 
Manual,  says,  that  “ a church,  after  having 
elected  its  pastor,  is  ordinarily  bound  to 
call  on  the  neighboring  churches  to  come 
together,  by  their  pastors  and  messengers, 
thal  they  may  advise  and  assist  in  his  so- 
lemn inauguration  when  the  council 
thus  convened  looks  into  the  preliminary 
proceedings,  to  be  informed  respecting  the 
regularity  and  harmony  of  the  election, 
and  the  terms  on  which  the  office  has  been 
offered  by  the  church,  and  accepted  by  the 
candidate  and  “ proceeds  to  examine  the 
person  set  before  them  as  the  pastor  elect, 
that  they  may  be  satisfied  respecting  his 
knowledge,  his  ability  for  the  work,  and  his 
piety,'’  and  pass,  and  put  on  record,  their 
solemn  judgment  respecting  his  fitness  for 
the  office  to  which  the  church  has  called 
him ; and^  if  they  find  him  fit^  set  him  apart 
to  the  responsibililies  and  labors  of  that 
office,  by  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of 
hands.”  We  are  told  that  “ all  this  is  not 
because  a church  has  not  a right  to  choose 
its  officers,  or  even  in  particular  cases  to 
induct  them  into  office;  but  because  a 


28  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

church  is  bound,  by  the  law  of  Christian 
love,  to  ask  the  advice  and  aid  of  sister 
churches  in  matters  of  great  and  common 
interest.’’  He  adds : “ So  in  regard  to  the 
dismission  of  a pastor  from  his  official  re- 
lation to  the  church.  A pastor  has  a right 
to  resign  his  office,  and  the  church  has 
power  to  accept  his  resignation ; and  the 
parties  may  declare  the  relation  dissolved, 
and  it  is  dissolved ; without  any  consulta- 
tion of  the  neighboring  churches  at  all. 
Nor  do  we  call  in  question  the  power  of 
the  church  to  do  all  this,  when  we  say  that 
it  ought  to  have  called  in  other  churches  to 
advise  and  aid  in  such  a transaction.  The 
thing  may  be  done,  and  done  effectually, 
and  nothing  wanting  to  its  validity,  when 
yet  it  is  not  done  properly,  or  with  de- 
corum. A thing  may  be  done  which  is 
not  done  decently  and  in  order ; and  a de- 
cent respect  for  the  feelings  and  interests 
of  sister  churches,  a moderate  share  of  the 
spirit  of  Christian  courtesy,  will  constrain 
any  church,  of  moderate  intelligence,  to  do 
such  a thing  decently  and  in  order,  by 
calling  a council  of  the  sister  churches, 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


29 


when  the  preliminaries  have  been  ar- 
ranged, and  saying  to  them,  thus  we  have 
done,  and  thus  we  propose  to  do,  and 
now  we  ask  your  judgment  and  approval.’’ 
Page  138. 

Now  although  our  Congregational  bre- 
thren assert,  in  theory,  the  right  of  the 
churches  to  choose,  ordain,  and  dismiss, 
their  pastors ; and  that  the  interference  of 
councils  is  merely  advisory ; it  is  practically 
a serious  thing  with  them  not  to  take  ad- 
vice. The  churches  that  decline  it,  not 
only  subject  themselves  to  being  considered 
as  destitute  of  a decent  respect  for  the  feel- 
ings and  interests  of  sister  churches,  and 
a moderate  share  of  intelligence but  also 
expose  themselves  to  the  disadvantage  of 
an  exclusion  from  ecclesiastical  fellowship 
with  sister  churches.  And  as  to  the  ab- 
stract right  to  act  disorderly  and  indecently, 
and  “ to  violate  the  great  principle  of  the 
communion  of  the  churches,”  what  is  it 
worth  ? Does  any  ecclesiastical  system  de- 
serve praise  for  conceding  such  a right  ? 

The  Presbyterian  Church  likewise  im- 
poses restraints  on  the  power  of  particular 


30  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

churches  to  choose  and  settle  their  pastors. 
The  constitution  requires  that,  when  an 
election  has  taken  place,  and  a call  been 
drawn  up  in  due  form,  ‘‘  the  call,  thus  pre- 
pared, shall  be  presented  to  the  presbytery 
under  whose  care  the  person  called  shall 
be ; that,  if  the  presbytery  think  it  expedient 
to  present  the  call  to  him,  it  may  be  ac- 
cordingly presented : and  no  minister  or 
candidate  shall  receive  a call  but  through 
the  hands  of  the  presbytery.’’  Page  337, 
And  if  I am  not  mistaken,  the  Presby- 
terian mode  extends  the  right  of  suffrage, 
beyond  the  members  of  the  church,  to  those 
who  belong  merely  to  the  congregation. 
If  this  is  the  case,  the  congregation  may 
unite  with  a minority  qf  the  church  to  call 
an  unsuitable  minister;  or,  at  least,  to  de- 
feat the  choice  of  a majority  of  the  church. 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


31 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Manner  of  entering  the  ministry,  and  of  appointment  to 
pastoral  charge,  in  the  M.  E.  Church ; in  the  Congre- 
gational and  Presbyterian  churches — The  difference 
estimated. 

In  the  foregoing  chapter  the  attention  of 
the  reader  is  directed  to  certain  constitu- 
tional restrictions,  to  which  Congregational 
and  Presbyterian  churches  are  subject,  in 
the  election  and  settlement  of  pastors. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  a good  rea- 
son for  these  checks  and  restraints.  Were 
individual  ministers  and  particular  church- 
es at  liberty  to  make  and  dissolve  contracts 
for  pastoral  labor  and  support,  without  any 
supervision  and  interference,  there  would 
be  no  security  against  the  wildest  specula- 
tion and  disorder.  A writer  in  the  New- 
England  Puritan,  a very  ably  conducted 
paper,  published  in  Boston,  by  the  Con- 
gregationalists,  attributes  some  changes  to 
movements”  on  the  part  of  churches, 
‘‘having  for  their  object  the  removal  of  min- 
isters for  slight  and  insufficient  reasons.” 
(See  No.  for  August  19,  1841.)  Another 


32 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


writer  in  the  same  paper,  in  a series  of  el- 
oquent articles  on  “ Ex-pastors,”  attributes 
changes  to  the  love  of  distinction  and 
emolument’’  on  the  part  of  ministers, 
prompting  them  to  seek  some  more  ele- 
vated and  lucrative  post and  adds,  “ The 
dismission  of  pastors  from  this  cause,  with 
various  disappointments  as  to  obtaining 
more  eligible  fields,  has  unquestionably  di- 
minished the  popular  veneration  for  the 
ministerial  office,  and  weakened  the  im- 
pression of  the  sanctity  of  the  pastoral  re- 
lation.” (See  No.  for  July  17,  1841.)  All 
this  occurs  notwithstanding  the  obstacles 
interposed  by  councils  and  presbyteries. 

Where  then  is  the  great  difference  be- 
tween the  privilege  of  these  churches  and 
ours  in  respect  to  the  choice  of  pastors? 
It  will  not  do  to  say  that  our  churches  have 
no  voice  in  the  choice  of  their  pastors. 
In  the  first  place,  no  man  can  reach  the 
pastoral  office,  in  our  church,  without  pass- 
ing several  times  under  the  review  of  the 
laity.  He  must  first  be  licensed  to  exhort. 
This  cannot  be  “ without  the  consent  of 
the  leaders’  meeting,  or  of  the  class  of  which 


POLITY  OF  METHODISx^I.  33 

he  is  a member,  where  no  leaders  meeting 
is  held.”  Dis,^  p.  48.  He  must  then  obtain 
license  to  preach  as  a local  preacher;  but, 
in  order  to  this,  he  must  again  be  recom- 
mended by  the  society  of  which  he  is  a 
member,  or  by  a leaders’  meeting.  Nor 
is  that  recommendation  sufficient  to  procure 
him  a license.  It  barely  brings  him  before 
the  quarterly  meeting  conference,  which 
consists  of  laymen,  with  the  exception  of 
the  presiding  elder,  and  preacher  or  preach- 
ers of  the  circuit  or  station ; so  that  there 
are  generally  but  two,  and  rarely  more  than 
three,  ministers  present,  and  one  of  these 
the  presiding  officer,  who  seldom  votes  on 
any  question  at  issue.  Next  he  must  be 
received  into  the  regular  itinerancy.  But 
this  cannot  be  without  the  recommendation 
of  the  quarterly  conference.  And  if,  with 
us,  particular  churches  cannot  select  their 
immediate  pastors,  nor  pastors  their  church- 
es; yet  the  churches  may  represent  their 
peculiar  circumstances,  and  petition  for  the 
minister  by  whom  they  think  they  would 
be  well  suited.  And,  as  a general  thing, 
those  who  choose  to  petition  are  gratified, 
3 


34  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

That  this  is  not  always  so,  is  a matter  of 
absolute  necessity ; as  no  man  can  be  the 
pastor  of  more  than  one  circuit  or  station 
at  the  same  lime,  and  applicants  for  the 
services  of  one  person  may  be  numerous, 
or,  at  least,  there  may  be  a plurality  of 
them.  In  other  instances,  the  application 
fails  from  considerations  of  expediency  ; 
such,  perhaps,  as  would  induce  a council 
or  a presbytery  to  refuse  their  concurrence 
with  an  election,  or  a minister  to  reject  the 
call. 

It  is  evident  from  these  statements,  that 
the  electing  system,  as  observed  by  the 
Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians,  has 
very  little,  if  any,  advantage  over  ours  in 
reference  to  the  liberty  of  choosing  pastors. 
Indeed  the  privilege  of  election,  which  is 
accorded  to  their  churches,  is  necessary  to 
raise  them  to  a level  with  ours.  For  while, 
with  us,  the  pastoral  office  is  reached  by 
successive  steps,  each  of  which  is  watched 
over  by  the  laity,  and  must  be  sanctioned 
by  their  formally  expressed  will;  with  them 
the  laity  is  not  consulted  at  all,  until  the 
question  comes  up,  which  of  the  many 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  S5 

ministers,  who  have  been  made  such  in- 
dependently of  them,  shall  be  their  imme- 
diate pastor. 

A young  man  determines  on  the  minis- 
try as  his  vocation.  He  is  supported  by 
his  parents  or  his  guardians,  or  by  an  edu- 
cation society,  while  he  seeks  the  education 
required.  He  is  then  licensed  by  an  asso- 
ciation of  ministers,  if  a Congregationalist, 
or,  if  a Presbyterian,  by  the  presbytery, 
which  consists  chiefly  of  ministers,  being 
composed  “ of  all  the  ministers ; and  one 
ruling  elder  from  each  congregation,  with- 
in a certain  district,’’  Con.^  357 ; and 
the  particular  churches  must  select  their 
pastors  from  the  number  of  those  so  in- 
troduced into  the  ministry.  Deny  these 
churches  the  privilege  of  election,  and  they 
would  be  in  a pitiably  helpless  and  de- 
graded condition — a condition  vastly  infe- 
rior to  that  of  our  churches.  The  laity 
with  us  have  spoken  four  times,  before  the 
laity  with  them  have  spoken  once.  And 
if  our  people  see  proper  to  do  so,  they  can 
speak  a fifth  time,  but  not  authoritatively ; 
they  can  speak  by  petition.  They  have 


36  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

raised  a class  of  men  to  the  pastoral  office, 
with  the  understanding  that  particular 
churches  will  not  elect  their  immediate  pas- 
tors, nor  pastors  their  churches;  but  that 
ministerial  labor  will  be  distributed  by  a 
distinct,  well-defined,  and  responsible  au- 
thority, created  for  the  purpose. 

The  advocates  of  the  electing  system 
bring  into  contrast  and  magnify  the  extreme 
points  of  their  system  and  ours,  overlook- 
ing all  the  intervening  facts  which  go  to 
equalize  them.  Because  our  churches  do 
not  elect  their  ministers,  they  are  represent- 
ed as  having  no  voice  in  the  matter — as 
being  perfectly  passive  and  powerless. 
Because  theirs  do  elect  their  ministers,  they 
would  have  us  think  that  their  choice  is 
wholly  unembarrassed,  and  that  they  are 
invariably  in  possession  of  the  services  of 
the  man  whom  they  prefer  above  all  others. 
Neither  of  these  representations  is  correct. 

This  then  is  the  result  of  the  foregoing 
investigation  : No  man  can  attain  to  the 
pastoral  relation,  or  even  the  minivStry,  in 
our  church,  without  the  consent  of  the  lay 
members  of  particular  churches,  frequently 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  87 

expressed.  But  the  churches  cannot  select 
their  immediate  pastors ; the  pastors  are 
appointed  to  their  particular  fields  of  labor 
by  the  bishops,  who  have  been  raised  to 
the  office  of  a general  superintendency,  for 
the  purpose  of  a judicious  distribution  of 
pastoral  labor.  They  may  be  regarded  as 
the  embodied  wisdom  and  authority  of  the 
entire  denomination  in  reference  to  this 
business.  They  are  responsible  for  every 
official  act.  But  while  the  churches  can- 
not select  their  pastors,  they  may  petition 
the  appointing  power  for  particular  min- 
isters ; and  we  have  only  to  suppose  the 
bishops  and  their  advisors  to  be  as  disin- 
terested as  councils  and  presbyteries  are, 
to  authorize  the  expectation  that  the  peti- 
tion will  be  granted  whenever  it  is  judged 
expedient.  And,  in  point  of  fact,  it  is  a 
common  thing  for  petitions  to  be  granted. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Congregational 
churches  have  nothing  to  say  in  the  pro- 
motion of  their  members  to  the  ministerial 
office.  They  are  not  officially  consulted 
either  as  to  the  gifts,  graces,  or  orthodoxy, 
of  those  who  apply  for  admission  into  the 


38  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

ministry.  The  Presbyterian  churches  have 
very  little  official  influence  in  this  import- 
ant transaction.  In  that  denomination 
ministers  are  made  solely  by  the  presbyte- 
ries, which  are  always  likely  to  comprise  a 
majority  of  ministers,  and  in  which  the 
laity  are  represented  only  by  a ruling  elder 
from  each  particular  church.  For  this  pri- 
vation of  official  influence  in  authorizing 
men  to  minister  at  the  altar,  they  are  com- 
pensated by  the  right  of  electing  their  pas- 
tors. But  this  privilege  is  subject  to  vari- 
ous embarrassments ; so  that,  instead  of 
being  able  to  secure  in  all  cases  the  men 
preferred,  they  are  often,  like  the  Method- 
ists, obliged  to  put  up  with  the  best  they 
can  obtain.  The  female  portion  of  the 
church,  which  often  constitutes  a large  ma- 
jority, including  the  largest  share  of  intel- 
ligence and  piety,  is  excluded  from  the 
privilege  of  voting;  thus  the  election  fre- 
quently devolves  on  a minority  of  the  mem- 
bers. This  minority  may  be  far  from  una- 
nimous, and  the  prosecution  of  a call  inex- 
pedient, notwithstanding  there  has  been  an 
election.  Should  the  electors  be  unani- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  39 

mous,  iheir  choice  may  be  neutralized  in 
various  ways — among  the  Congregation- 
alists  by  a vote  of  the  ecclesiastical  socie- 
ty, and  by  the  council,'  should  the  church 
and  the  ecclesiastical  society  concur ; and 
among  the  Presbyterians  by  a vote  of 
the  presbytery.  Should  the  church  elect- 
ing be  sole  applicant  for  the  services  of  the 
minister  elect,  he  may  consider  the  place 
ineligible,  or  the  salary  inadequate,  and  so 
decline  the  call.  Is  the  call  accepted  ; the 
election  approved;  the  pastor  installed ; the 
church  delighted  by  his  zeal,  learning,  and 
eloquence  ? He  may  receive  and  accept 
another  call  in  the  course  of  a few  months, 
procure  a dismission,  and  leave  his  recent 
flock  as  destitute  as  he  found  them.  And, 
besides  all  this,  should  the  minister  become 
wholly  unpopular  with  the  church  and  con- 
gregation, he  may  legally  retain  his  place 
for  many  weary  and  profitless  years.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  there  are  twenty  church- 
es, among  those  which  observe  the  elect- 
ing system,  dissatisfied  with  their  ministers, 
to  one  in  our  denomination. 


40 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Superiority  of  Methodism — Pastors  obtained  without 
loss  of  time. 

I NOW  proceed  to  show  that,  in  many  re- 
spects, our  system  of  distributing  ministe- 
rial labor  is  manifestly  and  vastly  superior 
to  that  with  which  it  is  compared. 

In  the  first  place,  it  supplies  our  churches 
with  pastors  so  promptly  as  to  prevent  the 
long  seasons  of  destitution  to  which  those 
are  liable  which  elect  their  pastors.  It  is 
not  uncommon  for  churches,  on  the  latter 
system,  to  be  for  many  months,  and  even 
years,  without  a pastor,  through  the  diffi- 
culty of  electing  one,  or  of  effecting  a set- 
tlement. Should  there  be  no  more  delay 
than  is  inevitably  incident  to  the  workings 
of  the  system,  still  the  duration  of  the 
vacancy  must  be  considerable.  Mr.  James 
observes  : Great  care  should  be  taken,  by 

those  to  whom  the  church  has  delegated 
the  power  of  procuring  candidates,  not  to 
invite  %ipo7i  probation  any  individual  of 
whose  suitableness  they  have  not  receiv- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  41 

ed  previous  and  satisfactory  testimony.'' 
Page  169.  And  when,  after  cautious  in- 
quiry, a candidate  has  been  invited,  great 
caution  ought  to  be  exercised  in  forming 
a judgment  upon  the  suitableness  of  an 
individual.  That  a proper  opportunity 
might  be  afforded  to  the  church  for  coming 
to  this  opinion,  the  probationary  term  of 
a candidate  should  not  be  too  short. 
Preaching  is  not  the  only  thing  to  be 
judged  of;  piety,  prudence,  diligence, 
general  deportment,  are  all  to  be  taken 
into  the  account:  and  for  a trial  in  all 
these  points,  a period  of  three  months  can- 
not be  thought  too  long.”  Page  170.  The 
Pi,ev.  Mr.  Punchard,  author  of  the  work  in 
favor  of  Congregationalism,  published  in 
the  year  1844,  complains  that  the  ‘‘churches 
are  not  all  as  particular  upon  this  point  as 
they  ought  to.  be  ; certainly  far  less  than 
our  fathers  were.  It  was  once  thought 
necessary  for  a candidate  for  settlement  to 
spend  months  among  the  people  of  his  pro- 
spective charge ; but  now  some  churches 
are  satisfied  with  an  acquaintance  of  a few 
days  only,  and  some  are  ready  to  call  a 


42 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


pastor  without  having  had  any  personal 
acquaintance  with  him.”  He  adds : “ This 
undoubtedly  is  one  reason  why  there  is 
now  so  little  permanency  in  the  pastoral 
relation.  Are  we  not  verifying  the  maxim, 
‘ To  innovate  is  not  to  improve  V ” P.  164. 

This  is  evidently  sound  doctrine.  Less 
caution  than  is  here  prescribed,  would 
be  reckless  haste  when  a minister  is  to  be 
chosen  from  among  many,  and  settled  for 
life,  or  for  a long  or  an  indefinite  period, 
by  a vote  of  the  members  of  the  church,  or 
of  the  church  and  congregation.  Now  we 
have  only  to  suppose — what  is  indeed  a very 
common  case — that  a succession  of  candi- 
dates should  be  unsuccessful,  and  the  re- 
sult is  a long  interruption  of  the  pastoral 
succession.  During  this  time  the  churches 
may  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them  by 
the  candidates;  but  these  do  not  sustain 
the  pastoral  relation,  and  of  course  there 
are  many  important  pastoral  duties  which 
they  cannot  perform.  Think  also  of  the 
circumstances  under  which  they  preach 
and  the  people  hear.  The  one  tempted  to 
seek  the  gratification  of  his  hearers  rather 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


43 


than  their  profit ; the  others,  criticizing 
and  estimating  the  performance  of  the 
preacher,  rather  than  receiving  with  meek- 
ness the  ingrafted  word.  With  us  no 
time  is  lost.  The  church  is  immediately 
supplied  in  case  of  the  death  of  a pastor. 
And  changes  are  so  effected  that  the  very 
hour  which  removes  a pastor  supplies  his 
place  with  another,  who  enters  at  once 
upon  the  labors  of  his  predecessors,  to 
govern,  and  be  governed,  by  precisely  the 
same  rules,  and  to  observe  the  same  pre- 
established  usages. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Our  system  avoids  dangerous  excitements — Liabilities 
of  the  opposite  plan. 

Our  system  avoids  the  unhallowed  excite- 
ments and  pernicious  agitations  to  which 
those  churches  are  liable  which  elect  their 
pastors.  Mr.  James  makes  the  following 
significant  remarks : When  a Christian 

minister  is  removed,  either  to  his  eternal 
rest  or  to  some  other  sphere  of  labor  in 


44  POLITY  OP  METHODISM. 

the  present  world,  the  choice  of  a successor 
always  brings  on  a crisis  in  the  history  of 
the  church  of  which  he  was  the  pastor. 
No  event  that  could  happen  can  place  the 
interest  of  the  society  in  greater  peril. 
Distraction  and  division  have  so  frequently 
resulted  from  this  circumstance,  so  many 
churches  have  been  rent  by  it,  that  an  ar- 
gument has  been  founded  upon  it,  if  not 
against  the  right  of  popular  election  to  the 
pastoral  office,  yet  against  the  expediency 
of  using  it.  It  must  be  admitted  that,  on 
these  occasions,  our  principles  as  Inde- 
pendents, and  our  practice  as  Christians, 
have  not  unfrequently  been  brought  into 
disrepute.  We  have  been  accused  of 
wrangling  about  a teacher  of  religion  till 
we  have  lost  all  our  religion  in  the  affray ; 
and  the  state  of  many  congregations  proves 
that  the  charge  is  not  altogether  without 
foundation.’’  Page  165. 

As  might  be  expected,  Mr.  James  thinks 
that  these  things  form  no  solid  objection 
against  his  system ; but  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  he  unveils  a startling  scene. 

He  gives  directions  for  the  conduct  of 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM.  45 

church  members,  during  the  progress  of  the 
election,  which  opens  to  our  view  the 
workings  of  the  plan  : Let  all  the  mem- 

bers, as  soon  as  their  pastor  is  removed  or 
dead,  seriously  reflect  on  the  crisis  into 
ichich  the  church  is  brought^  the  great  im- 
portance of  preserving  its  peace,  and  the 
influence  which  individual  conduct  may 
have  upon  the  future  prosperity  of  the 
society.  Let  them  deliberately  reflect  thus  : 
‘ The  church  is  now  coming  into  circum- 
stances of  peril,  and  I,  as  an  individual, 
may  be  accessory,  according  as  my  con- 
duct shall  be,  to  its  injury  or  prosperity. 
God  forbid  our  harmony  should  be  dis- 
turbed, or  our  Zion  become  otherwise  than 
a quiet  habitation.  So  far  as  depends 
upon  myself,  I will  sacrifice  everything  but 
principle,  rather  than  have  those  scenes 
of  division  and  distraction  among  us  which 
are  common  in  the  religious  world.’  ” Page 
166. 

What  principle  it  is  that  Mr.  James 
would  not  have  sacrificed,  to  avoid  those 
scenes  of  division  and  distraction,”  we  are 
not  informed.  Certain  it  is  he  comes  very 


46  ^ POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

near  recommending  a surrender  of  the 
right  of  choice.  “ It  would  be  very  ad- 
visable,’’ he  says,  “ in  some  cases,  for  even 
so  large  a majority  as  two-thirds,  or  even 
three-fourths,  to  give  up  the  pointy  rather 
than  carry  it  in  opposition  to  a minority 
which  includes  in  it  the  deacons  and  many 
of  the  most  experienced  and  respectable 
members  of  society.  The  majority  in  such 
instances  have  the  right  to  decide ; but  it 
is  a question  whether  they  ought  not,  for 
the  sake  of  peace,  to  waive  the  exercise  of 
it.”  Page  172.  And  the  young  are  cau- 
tioned, in  a style  which  partakes  largely 
of  the  dictatorial,  against  the  assertion  of 
their  rights. 

He  cautions  against  secret  canvassings 
and  attempts  to  influence  the  minds  of 
others;”  enforcing  the  caution  by  the  fol- 
lowing very  expressive  terms  : “ To  see  the 
mean  and  petty  arts  of  a contested  election 
carried  into  the  church  of  God  is  dreadful.” 
He  gives  as  a reason  for  a certain  rule, 
that  it  “ would  preclude  much  of  that  cabal 
and  intrigue  which  are  sometimes  employ- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  47 

ed  when  the  matter  is  carried  on  by  a mere 
majority.”  Page  171. 

Nor  does  the  agitation  cease  when  the 
minister  has  been  elected  by  an  ample 
majority.  It  is  necessary  that  the  majority 
“ should  exercise  peculiar  forbearance 
and  AFFECTION  toward  those  who  are  op- 
posed to  them,  carefully  avoiding  to  impute 
their  objections  to  any  improper  motives ; 
listening  to  their  statements  with  patience ; 
treating  them  with  candor ; reasoning  with 
them  in  the  spirit  of  love  ; and  giving  them 
time  to  have  their  difficulties  removed. 
The  happiest  results  have  often  been  the 
issue  of  such  kind  and  Christian  conduct. 
If,  however,  instead  of  this,  the  dissentients 
are  treated  with  harshness  and  intolerance  ; 
if  their  opposition  be  attributed  to  a factious 
and  caviling  temper ; if  they  are  regarded 
with  contempt,  as  a despicable  minority, 
of  which  no  notice  should  be  taken,  and 
are  left  immediately  to  themselves,  without 
any  conciliatory  measures  being  taken, 
while  the  majority  proceeds  immediately 
to  decide ; a schism  is  sure  to  take  place, 


48  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

as  mischievous  to  the  church  as  it  is  dis- 
graceful to  religion.”  Page  171. 

His  instructions  to  the  minority  are  quite 
ominous  : ‘‘  When  a minister  is  at  length 
brought  in  by  a large  majority,  it  then  be- 
comes a question,  What  ought  to  be  the 
conduct  of  the  minority?  Should  they 
separate  and  form  another  religious  so- 
ciety ? Certainly  not,  except  as  a dernier 
resort.  Let  them  consider  the  evils  con- 
nected with  such  a state  of  things.  What 
ill  will  is  often  produced  between  the  two 
societies ; how  much  antichristian  feeling 
is  excited  ; how  it  injures  the  spirit  of  both 
parties ; what  envies,  and  jealousies,  and 
evil  speakings,  commence  and  continue,  to 
the  injury  of  religion  and  the  triumph  of  its 
enemies !”  Page  173. 

He  admits,  that  ‘Mn  some  cases  a divi- 
sion  is  necessary  f and  exhorts,  that  where 
“ it  is  unavoidable,  great  efforts  should  be 
made  to  efiect  it  in  loveP 

He  thus  refers  to  prevalent  evils  and 
their  remedy : “ We  carry  into  the  sanctu- 
ary and  into  the  church  our  pride,  our 
self-will,  our  personal  taste.  That  spirit 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM.  49 

of  mutual  submission,  brotherly  love,  and 
surrender  of  our  own  gratification  to  the 
good  of  others,  which  the  word  of  God 
enjoins,  and  our  piofession  avows,  would 
keep  the  church  always  happy  and  har- 
monious, and  enable  it  to  pass  in  safety 
through  the  most  critical  circumstances  in 
which  it  can  be  placed.  Instead  of  seek- 
ing the  good  of  the  whole,  the  feeling  of 
too  many  of  our  members  may  be  thus 
summarily  expressed,  ‘ I will  have  my 
way.’  ” Page  J74. 

Now  these  are  evils  which  our  system 
avoids.  And  the  spirit  which  this  able  and 
amiable  author  recommends  as  their  re- 
medy— the  spirit  of  mutual  submission ; 
the  surrender  of  our  own  gratification  to 
the  good  of  others,  preferring  the  greatest 
good  to  the  gratification  of  a part — this  is 
the  very  basis  of  our  itinerancy.  Ministers 
and  churches  agree  to  waive  particular  and 
personal  advantages  in  order  to  accom- 
plish more  extensively  and  eflectively  the 
great  ends  for  which  the  church  and  its 
ministry  were  ordained. 

4 


50 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Frequent  changes  not  peculiar  to  Methodism — Advan- 
tages of  the  itinerant  system  in  respect  to  change — 
How  to  etfect  the  removal  of  an  unacceptable  min- 
ister. 

While  the  frequency  of  change  is  made 
an  objection  to  our  itinerant  plan,  it  is 
found  impossible  to  avoid  it  by  any  other. 
The  extent  to  which  it  affects  those 
churches  which  boast  a settled  ministry 
is  feelingly  deplored  by  recent  writers. 
Mr.  Punchard  remarks  : “ The  unsettled 
state  of  everything  connected  with  the 
pastoral  office,  for  a few  years  past,  has, 
undoubtedly,  introduced  irregularities  into 
the  practice  of  our  denomination  upon  this 
point,  as  well  as  upon  many  others.  In 
most  cases  the  pastoral  connection  is  now 
formed  with  the  understanding  that  it 
will  be  short-lived.  A stipulation  is  often 
made  that  the  connection  maybe  dissolved 
by  either  party — the  church  or  the  pastor 
— giving  the  other  three  months’  notice. 
In  other  cases  a settlement  is  made  for  a 
stipulated  number  of  years — -five  being  a 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  51 

favorite  number.  The  system  of  rotation 
has  been  pretty  thoroughly  introduced  into 
the  pastoral  office.  Our  pastors  have  be- 
come traveling  preachers,  circuit  riders” 
Page  270.  The  writer  on  “Ex-pastors” 
remarks:  “ However  it  may  be  explained, 
the  fact  is  most  manifest,  that  the  pastoral 
relation  has,  within  a recent  period,  been 
exceedingly  and  extensively  weakened.” 
He  contrasts  the  present  with  former  times, 
when  ministers  were  “ settled  for  life,”  and 
adds  : “ Fluctuation  and  revolution,  settle- 
ments and  dismissions, in  rapid  succession, 
wdthin  a few  years,  have  become  the  order 
of  the  day.” — N,  E.  Puritafi,  June  12th, 
1841.  If  we  add  to  the  frequent  changes 
of  pastors  the  almost  innumerable  changes 
of  candidates  and  stated  supplies,  there 
will  be  a pretty  fair  presumption  that,  on 
the  whole,  changes  take  place  as  frequently 
with  them  as  with  us. 

Now  we  regard  it  as  a lea^ding  excel- 
lence of  our  system  that  it  so  provides  for 
change,  that  it  takes  place  regularly  and 
without  discord.  Change  is  a part  of  our 
plan,  and  not  an  interruption  of  it.  Other 


52  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

systems  contemplate  a permanent  union 
between  particular  churches  and  pastors^ 
and  the  necessity  for  change  is  a disastrous 
contingency  for  which  they  must  provide 
as  well  as  they  can. 

With  those  churches  that  observe  the 
elective  system^  it  is,  in  many  instances, 
nearly  as  difficult  to  get  rid  of  a minister 
that  is  not  acceptable  as  to  secure  one  that 
is.  Sometimes  the  unfortunate  pastor 
takes  a hint  that  a change  is  desired,  and 
vacates  his  office  without  any  further  warn- 
ing. Sometimes  a mere  suspicion  on  his 
part  is  sufficient  to  dislodge  him.  He  is 
too  sensitive.  Sometimes  direct  proposals 
are  waited  for,  and  yielded  to  at  once. 
However,  it  is  not  always  convenient  thus 
to  fall  in  with  the  expressed  wishes  of  the 
church.  Great  sacrifices  are  often  involved 
in  a removal.  The  minister  is  not  willing 
to  make  them,  and  so  holds  his  people  to 
the  contract.  And  now  the  system  begins 
to  develop  new  beauties.  In  some  cases, 
when  the  pastor  has  been  settled  for  life, 
according  to  the  prevailing  custom  in  those 
halcyon  days,  the  departure  of  which  is  so 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  53 

afFectingiy  lamented  by  a writer  in  the 
New-England  Paritan,  the  church  buys 
off  the  incumbent  from  the  pastoral  rela- 
tion, and  the  right  to  the  pulpit,  by  what 
is  deemed  an  adequate  compensation. 

The  following,  according  to  Mr.  Pun- 
chard,  is  the  order  of  Congregationalism 
in  relation  to  dismission  : If  a church 

should  think  the  removal  of  a pastor  de- 
sirable, a regular  procedure  would  be,  for 
the  deacons,  or  some  of  the  older  members 
of  the  church, to  converse  freely  and  frankly 
with  him,  state  their  convictions,  and  sug- 
gest to  him  the  expediency  of  asking  a 
dismission  from  the  church.  If  the  pastor 
should  decline  so  to  do,  they  might  then 
desire  him  to  call  a meeting  of  the  church 
for  the  purpose  of  conferring  together,  and 
acting,  should  it  be  judged  expedient,  in 
reference  to  the  matter.  The  pastor  would, 
of  course,  absent  himself  from  such  a meet- 
ing, unless  he  had  some  special  communi- 
cation to  make  to  the  church  ; or  he  would 
retire  after  having  opened  it  in  the  usual 
form,  and  stated  the  object  of  the  meeting. 
The  church  being  thus  left  by  themselves. 


54  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

would  proceed  to  discuss  the  subject  be- 
fore them ; if  agreed  in  opinion,  they 
would  appoint  a committee  to  lay  before 
the  pastor  their  reasons  for  wishing  a dis- 
solution of  the  pastoral  connection,  and 
request  him  to  unite  with  them  in  calling 
a council  to  consider  the  matter,  and  ad- 
vise in  the  premises.  Should  he  decline 
their  offer  of  a mutual  council,  the  church 
would  then  be  entitled  to  the  advice  of  an 
ex  parte  council.  The  way  would  thus  be 
prepared  for  an  orderly  adjustment  of  the 
business  upon  Christian  and  Congrega- 
tional principles.’’  Page  176. 

This  must  needs  be  a very  painful  busi- 
ness for  both  the  minister  and  the  people, 
let  the  proceedings  be  ever  so  regular.  But 
the  process  does  not  always  relieve  the 
church  of  the  incumbent.  The  council 
may  advise  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  the 
former,  and  the  minister  may  avail  himself 
of  the  advice  of  the  council.  Hence 
churches,  finding  legitimate  measures  both 
tardy  and  often  unavailing,  frequently  re- 
sort to  those  which  are  more  prompt  and 
effective  in  their  operation.  Mr.  Punchard 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  55 

observes,  in  a note  : “ 1 regret  to  say  that 
our  churches  are  not  always  so  observant 
of  the  course  pointed  out  in  the  text  as 
they  should  be.”  Page  177. 

One  method  of  effecting  the  removal  of 
a minister,  is,  to  make  the  impression,  by 
slanderous  accusations  and  insinuations, 
that  his  usefulness  is  at  an  end,  and  so 
produce  universal  dissatisfaction : and 
by  the  same  means,  with  the  addition  of 
manifest  personal  neglect,  and  often  per- 
sonal insult,  to  make  his  condition  so 
uncomfortable,  that  he  is  glad  to  conform 
to  their  wishes,  in  order  to  escape  from 
intolerable  suffering.  The  Congregational 
Observer,  for  July  10th,  1841,  a paper  pub- 
lished in  Connecticut  for  some  years,  but 
recently  discontinued,  contains  “ A Recipe 

FORDRIVING  AWAY  A FaITHFUL  MiNISTER.” 

I copy  it  for  the  benefit  of  all  concerned  : — 
‘‘  Begin  the  quarrel  with  great  boldness 
and  great  violence ; set  afloat  a multiude 
of  stories,  no  matter  how  false  or  absurd, 
or  how  easily  disproved.  If  they  should 
be  in  fact  disproved,  be  careful  to  repeat 
them,  and  keep  them  moving  briskly,  and 


56  POLITY  OP  xMETHODISM. 

make  a handsome  addition  to  them.  As- 
sume the  fact  that  the  very  existence  of 
such  a state  of  things  proves  that  the  min- 
ister’s usefulness  is  gone.  Profess  a strong 
regard  for  the  peace  of  the  parish,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  influence  the  passions  of 
angry  malice  and  envy  by  every  species 
of  falsehood,  and  every  vulgar  artifice 
which  ingenuity  can  devise.  Seek  occa- 
sion to  converse  on  the  parish  difficulties^ 
and  a moderate  share  of  cunning  will  ena- 
ble you  to  accuse  him  openly  and  publicly 
of  falsehood.  By  this  time  a great  number 
of  persons  scattered  through  the  vicinity 
will  begin  to  say,  ‘ The  man  imist  have 
been  imprudent  he  must  have  given  some 
occasion^  or  these  stories  could  not  exist. 
His  usefulness  is  gone  ; and  the  sooner  he 
leaves  the  people  the  better.’ — Revieiv  of 
the  Dorchester  Controversy^ 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


57 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  starvation  plan — Cautionary  measures  recommend- 
ed— Adverse  consequences  of  changes — Alienation 
of  brethren — Division. 

Another  of  the  disgraceful  measures 
sometimes  resorted  to  by  those  churches 
that  elect  their  pastors,  for  the  purpose  of 
displacing  an  unacceptable  incumbent, 
may  be  called  the  starvation  plan, 

Mr.  Punchard,  referring  to  it,  observes : 
‘‘  Neither  Congregationalism,  nor  any  other 
ism  hni  barbarism,,  countenances  the  prac- 
tice of  starving  or  driving  a minister  from 
his  pastoral  charge.”  Page  177.  This  may 
be  true ; but  the  unsatisfactory  provision 
for  effecting  changes,  which  characterizes 
the  electing  system,  results  in  the  applica- 
tion of  this  measure  in  innumerable  in- 
stances, A writer  in  the  New-England 
Puritan,  for  August  19th,  1841,  over  the 
signature  of  R.  C.,  gives  us  a little  insight 
into  the  operation  of  this  device  : ‘‘Asa 
result  of  these  causes,  a small  minority  in 
a parish,  by  closely  watching  the  conduct 


58  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

and  preaching  of  a minister,  and  carefully 
husbanding  their  stock  of  real  or  imaginary 
grievances,  and  making  the  most  of  them 
at  the  next  annual  meeting,  and  then  re- 
fusing to  subscribe  anything  for  the  next 
year’s  salary,  and  inducing  others  to  do 
the  same ; in  this  way  a very  few  indi- 
viduals may  so  embarrass  a large  parish 
as  to  make  it  necessary  to  dismiss  an  able 
and  faithful  minister.”  And  there  is  rea- 
son for  believing  that,  when  the  starving 
regimen  is  adopted,  those  who  do  subscribe 
are  not  always  scrupulously  honorable  in 
the  payment  of  their  subscriptions. 

Those  difficulties  may  be  diminished, 
perhaps,  where  the  pastor  is  hired  for  a 
year,  or  where  it  is  stipulated  that  the  con- 
nection shall  be  dissolved  on  either  of  the 
parties  giving  three  months’  notice ; but 
this  is  obviously  an  innovation  upon  the 
plan  of  a settled  ministry.  The  writer  just 
quoted  pronounces  it  a “ wretched  policy  ’’ 
— “ creating  the  impression  that  the  en- 
gagement, with  a settled  pastor  even,  was 
only  a contract  to  be  renewed  or  annulled, 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  parish,  at  the  end  of 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  59 

the  year.”  And  neither  of  these  arrange- 
ments avoids  the  difficulties  named.  The 
same  writer,  referring  to  the  case  of  a min- 
ister who  had  been  dismissed  a little  more 
than  a year  after  his  settlement,  states  that 
the  council  were  informed  that  the  pastor 
had  been  settled  but  two  or  three  months, 
when  the  disaffected  began  freely  to  dis- 
cuss the  question,  whether  he  should  be 
employed  another  year?  and  in  this  way, 
and  by  the  influence  used  to  withhold 
subscriptions  to  the  salary,  the  dismission 
was  effected.’'  He  recommends  that,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  evils  deplored,  the 
minister  shall  take  the  precaution  “ to  se- 
cure, by  a written  and  formal  contract,  his 
rights,  the  condition  of  the  mutual  union, 
and  the  manner  alone  in  which  it  can  be 
dissolved;  then,”  he  adds,  ‘4he  business  of 
a parish  meeting  is  not  to  listen  to  slander 
and  abuse  of  the  pastor,  or  to  discuss  the 
question  whether  they  shall  longer  employ 
him,  but  merely  to  choose  officers,  and  take 
the  necessary  steps  for  raising  the  salary." 
Now  this  may  be  the  true  policy  in  con- 
nection with  this  system,  but  let  it  be  kept 


60  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

in  mind  that  it  proposes  to  prevent  the 
evils  complained  of  by  restricting  the 
boasted  freedom  of  the  churches  in  choos- 
ing their  pastors.  Having  chosen  one, 
he  is  to  be  fastened  upon  them,  whether 
they  are  suited  or  disappointed.  They 
must  take  him  “ for  better,  for  worse.’’ 
When  they  come  together  in  their  parish 
meetings,  it  is  to  be  no  part  of  their  busi- 
ness to  discuss  the  question  whether  they 
shall  longer  employ  him.  That  question 
is  no  longer  open.  All  they  have  to  do  is 
to  choose  officers  and  take  the  necessary 
steps  for  raising  the  salary.  And,  to  pre- 
vent the  application  of  the  starving  prin- 
ciple, he  recommends  the  laying  aside  of 
the  ‘‘  wretched  custom  of  subscribing  an- 
nually, instead  of  taxing,  for  the  support  of 
the  ministry.” 

Besides  all  this,  the  dismission  of  a 
minister  frequently  lays  the  ground  of 
alienation  of  feeling  among  the  members 
of  the  church,  and  sometimes  results  in  a 
division.  He  has  a party  which  regards 
him  as  an  injured  man,  and  is  prepared  to 
vindicate  him  by  the  strongest  measures. 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  61 

If  his  friends  remain  in  the  church  from 
which  he  is  dismissed,  they  hear  with  dis- 
relish any  praise  which  may  be  awarded 
to  the  new  pastor  as  an  implied  reflection 
on  his  predecessor,  and  watch  for  oppor- 
tunities to  effect  his  removal.  If  they  leave 
the  church,  and  organize  another  for  the 
benefit  of  their  favorite,  they  will  probably 
embarrass  themselves  by  erecting  an  edi- 
fice too  large  and  expensive  for  their  limited 
resources,  and,  after  a brief  and  desperate 
struggle,  conclude  that  they  must  abandon 
the  enterprise  of  sustaining  a new  church, 
or  dismiss  the  minister  for  whom  they  have 
incurred  their  harassing  responsibilities, 
and  procure,  if  possible,  the  services  of  one 
who  can  bring  to  their  aid  the  influence 
of  novelty  and  popularity. 


62 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Reputation  of  the  ministry  injured — Temporal  embar- 
rassments resulting — Personal  degradation  submitted 
to. 

Removals  upon  the  plan  referred  to  in 
the  preceding  chapter  are  found  to  ope- 
rate unfavorably  upon  the  character  of 
the  ministry.  If  the  minister  seek  a dis- 
mission merely  for  the  sake  of  being  more 
useful,  he  is  liable  to  be  regarded  as  un- 
stable and  capricious.  If  his  object  be  to 
escape  difficulties  which  threaten  to  destroy 
his  peace,  he  is  deficient  in  courage  or  for- 
titude. If  he  remove  to  a more  wealthy 
congregation,  he  is  suspected  of  mercenary 
motives.  If  he  be  dismissed  at  the  instance 
of  the  church,  he  must  encounter  suspi- 
cions of  some  important  ministerial  dis- 
qualification. The  essayist,  in  the  Puritan, 
for  August  19lh,  1841,  on  Ex-pastors, 
states,  that  the  fact  of  dismission  of  itself 
tends  to  extend  distrust  and  prejudice. 
Hence  explanations  vindicating  them  from 
injurious  suspicions  become  necessary ; 
and  they  are  constrained,  in  seeking  intro- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  63 

ductions  to  places  for  employment,  to  re- 
hearse again  and  again  the  material  facts 
of  their  antecedent  ministry.” 

Another  difficulty  which  embarrasses  re- 
movals on  the  plan  we  are  discussing  is, 
the  peculiar  inconveniences  to  which  the 
minister  may  be  put  in  reference  to  his 
temporal  interests  and  bis  feelings.  Per- 
haps he  is  a young  man  who,  having  waited 
a reasonable  time,  and  entered  upon  his 
ministerial  career,  has  united  himself,  by 
matrimonial  obligations,  to  the  object  of 
his  highest  earthly  attachments.  The  salary 
allowed  him  is  barely  enough,  or  perhaps 
insufficient,  to  support  him  in  the  style  in 
which  he  is  expected  to  live,  and  to  furnish 
him  with  the  requisite  appliances  for  the 
effective  prosecution  of  his  ministry.  He 
must  go  in  debt  to  furnish  his  house,  with 
the  hope  that  a few  years  of  economy  will 
enable  him  to  discharge  his  obligations. 
But  in  less  than  two  years,  perhaps  in  less 
than  one,  he  is  dismissed.  He  is  without 
resources,  unless  he  has  been  so  fortunate 
as  to  have  married  the  daughter  of  some 
person  in  good  circumstances,  and  so  can 


64  POLITY  OF  METHOOISM. 

quarter  his  family  upon  his  father-in-law. 
He  must  now  look  out  for  another  place. 
But  I will  allow  one  who  is  evidently  fa- 
miliar with  the  subject  to  depict  the  trials 
which  often  ensue.  Let  me  again  intro- 
duce the  writer  on  Ex-pastors  : “ With  the 
termination  of  his  pastoral  relation  his 
salary  has  ceased,  and,  as  a general  fact, 
the  loss  of  means  of  support  brings  him 
into  a straitened  pecuniary  condition.  He 
may  be  possessed  of  property,  aftbrd- 
ing  him  a resource  adequate  to  sustain 
him  and  his  family  without  the  avails  of 
ministerial  labor.  This,  however,  must 
be  only  the  exception  to  the  ordinary  rule. 
If,  when  becoming  a pastor,  he  was  in  debt 
for  his  education  ; and  then,  in  procuring  a 
situation  for  residence  among  the  people 
of  his  charge,  another  debt  was  contracted  ; 
how,  without  ministerial  employment,  and 
without  an  income  from  it,  he  shall  pro- 
cure even  his  bread,  without  inquiring  how 
he  shall  educate  his  children,  becomes  a 
problem  of  no  easy  solution.  With  a 
burdened  heart  he  is  constrained  to  in- 
quire, ‘ Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  GO 

do  V Repulsed,  disappointed  in  his  efforts 
to  obtain  a location  for  ministerial  labor, 
and  with  only  scanty  pecuniary  resources, 
the  inquiry  is  forced  upon  him,  ‘ Is  it  my 
duty  to  leave  the . ministry,  and  resort  to 
some  other  method  of  earning  a support  V 
But  he  has  consecrated  himself,  and  has 
been  officially  consecrated  by  the  laying 
on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery,  to  this 
one  work.  He  loves  it,  and  desires  it,  and 
shrinks  from  the  proposal  to  turn  aside  to 
any  secular  occupation.  It  seems  a vio- 
lation of  the  vows  of  ordination,  and  may 
argue  a want  of  faith,  of  self-denial,  and 
fortitude,  and  peradventure  may  bring 
blame  or  suspicion  upon  the  holy  office. 
Will  his  glorious  Master — when  uncon- 
verted sinners  are  dying  and  going  to^ 
judgment  in  untold  numbers — will  he  re- 
fuse him  bread,  if  he  will  but  abide  by  his 
profession,  and  go  forth  to  his  work  ? To 
be  a teacher  of  youth,  if  he  leave  the  pulpit 
for  the  school  room ; to  be  a writer  for  the 
press,  if  he  leave  the  sacred  function  for 
authorship  ; to  be  a commissioned  agent 
for  some  public  charity,  if  he  leave  the 


66  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

Staled  preaching  of  the  word  for  such  an 
occasional  service ; is  not,  in  the  proper 
sense,  giving  himself  to  the  ministry  and 
fulfilling  it,  and  is  not  occupying  the 
sphere  of  labor  entered.upon  at  his  ordina- 
tion. His  habits  are  not  formed  for  any 
proposed  occupation  foreign  from  that  of 
a pastor.  How  long,  then,  shall  he  profter 
his  services,  and  seek  out  opportunities  for 
obtaining  a field  of  pastoral  labor,  and 
when  ought  he  to  resort  to  other  employ- 
ment? Here  are  trials  of  heart  and  of 
conscience — here  are  conflicting  doubts 
and  fears — here  are  struggles  in  the  bosom 
of  the  husband  and  father,  when  he  thinks 
of  his  wife  and  children,  and  where  and 
how  they  shall  be  sheltered,  and  clothed, 
^and  fed,  constituting  one  part  of  the  expe- 
rience of  ex-pastors.  Shall  one  in  these 
circumstances  continue  to  present  himself 
to  the  public  notice,  by  correspondence, 
and  by  engaging  the  kind  offices  of  his 
ministerial  brethren,  to  introduce  and  re- 
commend him  to  places  destitute  of  pas- 
tors, and  that,  too,  when  he  finds  these 
brethren  burdened  almost  be  vend  endu- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  67 

ranee  by  the  multitude  of  such  applicants, 
and  vacant  churches  are  brought  to  their 
wits’  end  to  determine  which  of  the  nu- 
merous suitors  to  select?  He  finds  can- 
didating itinerancy  puts  the  courteousness 
and  hospitality  of  his  pastoral  brethren  to 
a severe  test,  and  brings  him  into  painful 
collision  with  other  candidating  brethren, 
who  have  antecedently  offered,  or  are  at 
the  same  time  offering,  their  services.  A 
bold,  unblushing  spirit,  might  feel  little  the 
embarrassment  of  such  circumstances  ; but 
ordinary  modesty,  meekness,  and  polite- 
ness, find  all  their  resources  put  in  requi- 
sition. But  he  is  losing  time,  and  spend- 
ing the  small  funds  which  he  can  command, 
by  lengthened  experimenting  of  this  kind, 
and  necessity  will  compel  him  to  stop, 
unless  he  is  willing  to  cast  himself  and  his 
family  as  paupers  upon  the  community. 
And  when  this  necessity  seems  fully  to 
come  upon  him,  it  is  with  an  aching  heart 
that  he  is  compelled  to  leave  the  ministry 
of  the  word  for  some  secular  occupation  ; 
and  if  he  is  found  by  a zealous  ministerial 
brother  at  the  plough,  or  behind  the  counter, 


68  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

he  must  answer  the  interrogatory,  ‘ What 
dost  thou  here,  Elijah?’  Have  you  any 
adequate  reason  to  assign  for  declining  to 
cast  yourself  still  upon  the  churches  for 
ministerial  employment?” 

To  the  suggestion  that  these  persons 
may  go  to  the  west,  where  there  is  a de- 
mand for  ministers,  the  essayist  replies : 
Ministers  dismissed  from  enfeebled 
churches,  though  ardently  loving  their 
work,  cannot  always  go  to  the  distant 
west  and  plant  themselves  where  they 
please  as  ministers,  and  pursue  their  ap- 
propriate work,  just  as  the  purchaser  of  a 
farm  covered  with  dense  forests  takes  his 
ax  and  fells  the  stately  trees  around  him, 
and  rears  his  log  house.  They  have  not 
the  funds,  peradventure,  to  engage  in  such 
an  enterprise,  or  the  state  of  their  families 
forbids  the  exposure  of  penetrating  the 
wilderness.  With  none  dependent  upon 
them  they  might  do  otherwise,  and  fall  in 
with  the  tide  of  immigration,  and  seek  them 
a place,  and  adopt  the  expedients  of  western 
adventurers  to  sustain  themselves,  while 
striving  to  plant  the  gospel  in  the  wilder- 


rOLlTY  OF  METHODISM.  ^ ^ * 69 

ness.  God  forbid  that  the  writer,  after  he 
had  himself  witnessed  the  condition  of 
some  churches  in  a few  of  the  western 
settlements,  and  labored  and  sympathized 
with  them,  should  stop  one  of  his  brethren 
who  is  qualified  and  disposed  to  go  forth 
to  the  great  and  good  work.  But  many 
unsettled  ministers,  who  might  efficiently 
and  usefully  labor  for  years  as  pastors  in 
the  older  states,  cannot  encounter,  after  the 
vigor  of  their  days  has  passed  away,  the 
hazards  and  difficulties  of  transferring 
themselves  to  the  great  western  valley, 
without  high  presumption,  and  great  in- 
justice and  cruelty  to  their  households. 
Consequently,  without  opportunities  for 
resuming  pastoral  labor  in  the  New-Eng- 
land  and  older  states,  they  are  necessarily 
precluded  from  their  work.’’ 

Again : “ How  many,  after  solicitously 
and  honestly  endeavoring  to  find  where 
they  might  be  again  stationed,  and  statedly 
labor  in  the  ministry,  have  been  defeated, 
and  forced,  with  aching  hearts,  to  cast 
about  for  some  other  means  and  expedients 
to  save  themselves  and  families  from 


70 


1 ^ )’ 

POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

pinching  penury,  the  writer  will  not  under- 
take to  state.  He  is  satisfied  it  is  not 
small ; and  without  a change  in  the  modes 
of  thinking  and  acting,  prevalent  within  a 
few  years  past  in  regard  to  the  relation  of 
pastors  to  their  people,  it  must  be  in- 
creased.” 

These  difficulties  are  not  to  be  set  down 
to  ministerial  incompetency.  They  arise 
from  the  demand  for  a popular  ministry 
which  the  electing  system  naturally  creates, 
and  which  is  stimulated  by  the  contiguity 
of  rival  churches  of  other  denominations, 
or  of  the  same  denomination.  The  writer 
just  quoted  attributes  them,  in  part,  to 
“ the  demand  for  a peculiar  style  of  preach- 
ing, winning  fame  by  its  brilliancy,  or 
startling  by  its  extravagant  characteris- 
tics.” 


POLiry  OF  METHODISM. 


71 


CHAPTER  X. 

Same  subject  continued. 

By  our  plan  we  are  spared  the  painful  and 
humiliating  task  of  exploring  the  country 
as  candidates  for  pastorships.  This  point 
deserves  a separate  and  protracted  con- 
sideration. The  long  quotations,,  in  the 
chapter  immediately  preceding,  make  de- 
velopments to  which  we  may  profitably 
recur.  The  minister  destitute  of  a church 
must  “ present  himself  to  public  notice  by 
correspondence,  and  by  engaging  the  kind 
offices  of  his  ministerial  brethren,  to  intro- 
duce and  recommend  him  to  places  desti- 
tute of  pastors,  and  that  too  when  he  finds 
these  brethren  burdened  almost  beyond 
endurance  by  the  multitude  of  such  appli- 
cants, and  vacant  churches  are  brought  to 
their  wits’  end  to  determine  which  of  the 
numerous  suitors  to  select.’’  This  is  de- 
grading enough,  and  yet  it  is  but  the  be- 
ginning of  degradation. 

He  finds  that  candidating  itinerancy 
puts  the  courteousness  and  hospitality  of 


72  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

his  pastoral  brethren  to  a severe  test,  and 
brings  him  into  painful  collision  with  other 
candidating  brethren,  who  have  anteced- 
ently offered,  or  are  at  the  same  time 
offering,  their  services.’’  Worse,  and  still 
worse  ! A bold  and  unblushing  spirit 
might  feel  little  the  embarrassment  of 
such  circumstances,  but  ordinary  modesty, 
meekness,  and  politeness,  find  all  their  re- 
sources put  in  requisition.”  No  doubt 
of  that ! Poor  modesty,  meekness,  and 
politeness  ! ! “ But  he  is  losing  time,  and 

spending  the  small  funds  which  he  can 
command,  by  lengthened  experimenting 
of  this  kind.” 

I appeal  to  the  reader  to  say  if  this 
is  not  a melancholy  representation  ? And 
if  the  candidate  should  succeed  so  far 
as  to  be  received  on  probation,  he  may 
be  notified,  at  the  expiration  of  three 
or  six  months,  after  he  has  been  watch- 
ed, and  scrutinized,  and  his  merits  and 
defects  discussed  in  every  company  and 
place  of  resort,  and  has  passed  through 
the  most  harassing  solicitude,  that  his 
services  are  not  acceptable.  He  then  goes 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  73 

with  a crushed  spirit  to  another  place,  it 
may  be  to  pass  through  a similar  ordeal 
with  similar  success.  And  yet  he  may  be 
called  of  God  to  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
and  may  possess  qualifications  for  eminent 
usefulness,  if  he  only  were  in  the  right 
place,  and  could  be  received  with  cordi- 
ality, and  sustained  with  confidence  for 
one  or  two  years  at  a time.  Should  he 
make  up  his  mind  to  encounter  no  longer 
the  mortification  incident  to  ‘‘candidating,” 
he  is  liable  to  be  reproached  with  a want 
of  perseverance,  or  with  a slight  attachment 
to  the  sacred  office,  and,  perhaps,  with  a 
criminal  forgetfulness  of  the  vows  of  his 
consecration.  Highly  talented  and  distin- 
guished men  may  not  be  under  the  neces- 
sity of  thus  going  about.  Their  services 
may  be  sought  eagerly  after.  But  this  will 
be  their  peculiar  privilege.  Now  this  pri- 
vilege, so  far  as  exemption  from  “ can- 
didating”  is  concerned,  belongs  to  every 
itinerant  Methodist  minister,  however  hum- 
ble. He  does  not  expect  to  escape  diffi- 
culties. He  knows  that  he  must  labor  hard, 
receiving  but  little  recompense  on  earth. 


74  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

But  then  he  is  not  subject  to  such  hardships 
and  degradation  as  have  just  been  de- 
scribed. Itinerancy  subjects  him  to  many 
serious  inconveniences ; but,  thank  God, 
he  knows  nothing  of  ‘‘  candidating  itine- 
rancy.” I have  heard  of  ministers,  who, 
reposing  in  assured  dignity  upon  their 
talents  and  acquisitions,  have  refused  to 
come  down  so  far  as  to  preach  trial  ser- 
mons before  the  churches  desiring  their 
services,  notwithstanding  their  system  sanc- 
tions, and  even  requires,  the  practice.  This 
is  high  ground — and  yet  every  Methodist 
preacher  may  occupy  it.  If  one  among  us 
is  suspected  of  seeking  the  preference  of  a 
circuit  or  station,  with  a view  to  their  so- 
liciting his  services,  he  is  looked  upon  as 
having  compromised  the  dignity  of  his 
office. 

It  might  be  apprehended,  with  some  de- 
gree of  plausibility,  that  the  degradation 
of  the  individual  minister  would  result,  to 
some  extent,  in  the  degradation  of  the  min- 
isterial office.  A writer  in  a recent  num- 
ber of  the  American  Biblical  Repository, 
Professor  I.  M,  Sturtevant,  of  Illinois  Col- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  75 

lege,  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  in  an  article  on 
“ The  Education  of  Indigent  Young  Men  for 
the  Ministry f speaking  of  such  as  find 
their  services  unacceptable,  says : But  they 
do  not  suffer  alone.  The  community  suf- 
fers with  them.  The  ministry  goes  beg- 
ging, and  suffers  degradation  in  the  popular 
esteem.’’  Again,  he  inquires  : Is  not  the 

number  of  candidates  for  any  vacant  place, 
and  their  zeal  to  obtain  it,  such  as  to  make 
the  impression  that  the  ministry  is  filled 
with  mere  place-seekers,  hanging  on  the 
church  for  a living?” 

Now,  in  all  that  I have  written  upon  this 
subject,  I have  not  designed  the  least  re- 
flection upon  the  piety  and  intelligence  of 
our  brethren  of  other  denominations.  This 
investigation  has  attached  me  more  closely 
to  them  in  affection  and  sympathy.  I can- 
not overlook  that  many  of  them  are  far 
more  favorably  situated,  so  far  as  temporal 
advantages  are  concerned,  than  any  Me- 
thodist preachers  can  hope  to  be.  But  this 
is  not  the  case  with  all.  We  have  no 
monopoly  of  ministerial  privations  and 
sacrifices,  and  are  not  entitled  to  a mo- 


76  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

nopoly  of  the  church’s  sympathy.  I see 
that  the  Christian  ministry,  viewed  in  the 
aggregate*,  must  have  its  many  and  sore 
trials,  and  that  no  plan  of  dividing  its  labor 
and  its  support  can  protect  the  ministry 
of  any  denomination  from  its  share  in 
these  trials. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Superiority  of  Methodism  further  illustrated — Provides 
for  a more  effective  employment  of  ministerial  talent 
— Auspicious  influence  upon  young  men — Retains 
old  men  longer  in  effective  service. 

Now  our  system  presents  a cheering  con- 
trast to  the  other,  not  only  in  reference  to 
candidating,”  but  in  many  other  respects. 
In  its  operations,  removals  cause  no  such 
demoralizing  and  disastrous  agitations. 
They  imply  no  deficiency  on  the  part  of 
the  minister,  or  delinquency  on  the  part 
of  members.  He  retains  their  affections; 
and  when  the  time  for  his  transfer  comes, 
they  send  him  away  with  good  wishes, 
and  with  fervent  prayers  that  his  labors 
may  be  blessed  in  his  new  field.  And 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  77 

when  his  successor  comes,  no  one  regards 
him  with  suspicion  as  the  supplanter  of 
an  injured  favorite.  He  is  looked  upon  as 
«ent  of  God,  and  hailed  with  joyous  in- 
terest. Nor  is  the  minister  who  leaves 
thrown  upon  the  wide  world,  without  a 
people  over  whom  he  may  watch,  and  by 
whom  he  may  be  supported.  The  very 
act  which  dissolves  his  pastoral  relation  to 
one  church,  places  him  in  the  same  relation 
to  another.  Thus  he  is  never  without  a 
church,  and  such  a support  as  they  may 
be  able  or  willing  to  give  him,  so  long  as 
he  is  able  to  perform  efficient  pastoral  la- 
bor. With  us,  churches  are  never  with- 
out pastors,  and  pastors  never  without 
churches. 

Methodism  employs  to  the  best  possi- 
ble advantage  those  ministers  who  possess 
moderate  talents  and  acquisitions.  More 
than  ordinary  ability  is  necessary  for  a 
minister  to  sustain  himself  in  acceptability 
and  usefulness  for  many  years,  in  the 
same  place.  There  are  hundreds  of  men 
among  us,  eminently  useful,  who  would 
very  soon  be  obliged  to  retire  from  the 


78  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

work,  were  we  to  adopt  the  plan  of  a set- 
tled ministry.  In  saying  this  I do  not 
design  to  disparage,  and  do  not,  in  fact, 
disparage,  our  ministry,  in  comparison  with 
that  of  other  denominations ; for  there  are 
among  them,  at  this  day,  hundreds  without 
employment,  not  because  they  have  not 
qualifications  for  usefulness — they  have 
advantages  over  most  of  us,  in  respect  to 
literary  training — but  because  they  are  un- 
able to  meet  the  demands  of  the  age  upon 
a settled  ministry.  They  cannot  sustain 
longer  than  one  or  two  years  the  compe- 
tition they  are  destined  to  meet  with.  A 
Methodist  “circuit  rider,”  so  called  in  de- 
rision, shall  be  sent  to  the  place  where  one 
of  them  is  settled,  much  inferior  to  him  in 
education,  but  who,  having  the  advantage 
of  freshness  and  novelty,  shall  excite  an 
interest  which  he  is  no  longer  able  to  ex- 
cite. His  people  become  mortified  and 
discontented.  They  expect  of  him,  not 
only  that  he  will  keep  pace  with  the  Me- 
thodist preacher,  but  that,  by  leaving  him 
far  behind,  he  will  obviously  illustrate  the 
often  alledged  superiority  of  a classically 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM. 


79 


educated  minister,  over  any  one  not  so 
qualified.  The  result  is  his  dismission. 
A very  few  dismissions  render  his  pros- 
pect of  a resettlement  eminently  precarious. 
He  goes  down ; while  in  consequence  of 
timely  change,  the  energetic  Methodist 
preacher  rises  continually  in  public  esti- 
mation. 

I regard  it  as  by  no  means  a light  con- 
sideration that  we  are  thus  enabled  to  avail 
ourselves  more  fully  of  deep  piety  for 
ministerial  purposes,  and  are  less  depend- 
ent upon  men  who  have  little  or  nothing 
else  to  recommend  them  to  the  ministry 
than  learning  and  splendid  talents.  If 
learned  men,  endowed  with  deep  humility, 
choose  to  come  among  us,  and  share  with 
us  in  our  labors  and  privations,  we  wel- 
come them,  we  esteem  them,  we  reverence 
them.  Many  such  we  have  in  our  con- 
nection. But  if  they  cannot  stoop  to  the 
plans  and  labors  of  the  Methodist  ministry, 
Ave  are  willing  that  they  should  go  where 
they  can  surround  themselves  with  more 
congenial  circumstances. 

From  the  foregoing  remarks  it  may  be 


80 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM. 


inferred  that  the  scheme  we  advocate  acts 
propitiously  upon  the  prospects  and  use- 
fulness of  young  men  just  entering  the 
ministry. 

It  also  finds  employment  for  old  men  as 
long  as  they  are  able  to  do  effective  service. 
The  other  consigns  them  to  silence  and 
obscurity,  when,  as  yet,  their  power  for 
usefulness  is  but  slightly  diminished.  Here 
allow  me  to  introduce  again  the  eloquent 
writer  on  Ex-pastors:— 

Vacant  churches  and  parishes,  having 
the  like  predilection  for  a young  pastor, 
decline  the  services  of  the  older  candidates, 
dismissed  from  their  former  charges,  and 
wait  the  opportunity  of  securing  the  settle- 
ment of  some  one  who  has  but  just  girded 
on  the  ministerial  armor.  Thus  the  same 
cause  that  removes  a minister  from  his 
charge,  in  this  case  acts  with  equal  potency 
to  preclude  him  from  resuming  it  in  any 
other  place.  To  a great  extent,  this  is  the 
explanation  of  the  unsuccessfulness  of 
many  ex-pastors,  in  their  efforts  to  ob- 
tain resettlement.  The  ministerial  com- 
mittee of  the  church  and  parish  feel  bound 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  81 

to  say  to  older  applicants  for  employment, 
though  well  recommended,  and  though 
themselves  satisfied  with  their  preaching, 
(if  they  speak  the  popular  sentiment,)  ‘ We 
want  a young  man,  in  all  the  vigor  of 
body  and  mind,  who  will  grow  up  and 
live  with  us  for  many  years,  and  not  one 
who  is  on  the  down-hill  of  life.’  ” — New- 
England  Puritan^  June  12th^  1841, 


CHAPTER  XIL 

Our  system  equalizes  more  than  any  other  the  labors  and 
support  of  the  ministry — ^Distributes  more  equally 
the  gifts  of  the  ministry — Opens  a wider  field  of  usC" 
fulness. 

We  claim  it  as  an  excellence  of  our  system 
that  it  equalizes,  more  than  any  other,  the 
condition  of  the  ministry.  All  must  sub- 
ject themselves  to  the  same  liabilities.  All 
must  be  in  equal  readiness  to  go  wherever 
sent.  It  is  true,  there  cannot  be  perfect 
equality.  Some  circuits  and  stations  are 
more  eligible  than  others,  and  some  minis- 
ters are  gifted  with  superior  qualifications. 
That  the  ablest  ministers  should,  as  a ge- 
6 


82  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

neral  rule,  be  found  in  connection  with  the 
most  important  stations,  is  to  be  expected. 
But  no  preacher  can  fasten  upon  a pleasant 
station  and  monopolize  its  advantages. 
He  who  is  now  favored  must  change  place 
with  his  brother,  who,  perhaps,  has  been 
suffering  great  personal  inconveniences  for 
the  good  of  the  common  cause.  Thus  an 
equality  is  preserved.  One  is  not  eased 
all  the  time,  and  another  continually  bur- 
dened. The  inequality  on  the  other  plan 
is  very  great.  Some,  owing  to  a conjunc- 
ture of  very  favorable  circumstances  and  the 
influence  of  powerful  friends,  are  placed 
early  in  connection  with  wealthy  and  libe- 
ral congregations,  and  receive  large  sala^ 
ries,  by  which  they  are  able  to  surround 
themselves  with  every  supposable  advan- 
tage for  study  and  personal  comfort. 
While  others,  with  equal  qualifications  for 
usefulness,  and  perhaps  with  talents  equal- 
ly attractive,  must  spend  their  years  in  con- 
nection with  comparatively  small  and  bur- 
dened congregations,  unable,  if  willing,  to 
give  more  than  a mere  living.  And  others 
still  must  be  tossed  upon  the  billows  of 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  83 

change,  uncertain  whether  they  will  reach 
some  friendly  haven,  or  founder  amid  the 
waves,  or  suffer  ministerial  shipwreck  on 
some  desert  shore. 

It  may  also  be  said  in  favor  of  our  sys- 
tem, that  it  distributes  more  equally  and 
extensively  than  any  other  the  gifts  of  the 
ministry.  God  has  endowed  the  ministry 
with  various  gifts  for  the  edification  of  the 
church.  He  has  not  only  conferred  diver- 
sified gifts  upon  the  same  individual,  but 
has  also  distinguished  some  by  peculiar  en- 
dowments of  nature  and  grace.  These 
ministers  are  the  servants  of  the  whole 
church ; their  gifts  are  the  property  of 
the  whole  church.  We  cannot  think  that 
the  leading  churches  of  New- York,  or 
Philadelphia,  or  Baltimore,  or  any  other 
place,  have  a right  to  seize  upon  the  most 
distinguished  men,  and  make  an  exclusive 
appropriation  of  their  services  for  life.  We 
very  much  doubt  whether  it  was  possible 
for  the  church  at  Ephesus  to  acquire  an 
exclusive  right  to  the  services  of  Paul,  al- 
though he  might  profitably  spend  three 
years  there.  No.  It  was  important  that 


84  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

he  should  depart  thence  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel in  other  places. 

The  theory  of  a settled  ministry  gives  to 
a congregation  the  monopoly  of  a 'minis- 
ter’s gifts.  The  necessity  of  change  is  de- 
precated. If  a young  minister  receives  a 
call  to  an  important  congregation,  and  re- 
tains their  preference,  and  continues  with 
them  until  entirely  disabled  by  old  age, 
he  is  supposed  to  have  gained  a most  en- 
viable triumph  over  adverse  tendencies. 
His  case  is  looked  upon  as  exemplifying 
a chief  excellence  of  the  system.  But  we 
cannot  see  why  the  eminent  gifts  which 
enable  a man  to  sustain  himself  so  long  in 
connection  with  an  important  congrega- 
tion should  not  be  employed  for  the  be- 
nefit of  other  congregations.  Why  should 
not  other  churches  be  enlightened  by  his 
reasoning,  stirred  by  his  eloquence,  and 
impelled  by  his  energy  ? Why  should  not 
the  cloud,  so  richly  surcharged,  pass  on  to 
water  other  regions  ? Let  it  be  kept  in  mind 
that  the  most  powerful  men  are  the  most 
likely  to  be  thus  restricted.  Even  an  oc- 
casional exchange  of  pulpits  is  not  without 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  85 

danger  to  the  congregation,  if  not  to  the 
minister. 

These  remarks  suggest  another  of  the 
peculiar  advantages  of  Methodism.  The 
minister  settled  for  life  preaches  from  year 
to  year  to  a few  hundreds,  and  these,  with 
few  variations,  the  same  persons.  The 
Methodist  preacher  preaches  to  thousands 
upon  thousands.  It  is  as  if  the  great  Head 
of  the  church  should,  on  giving  him  his 
commission,  bear  him  to  some  elevated 
spot,  and  place  before  him,  on  a vast  area, 
an  innumerable  multitude,  and  say, — Be- 
holcTthy  parish.  Here  is  thy  congregation. 
Thou  canst  not  minister  to  all  at  the  same 
time.  I therefore  divide  them  into  com- 
panies of  hundreds.  Thou  shalt  preach 
for  one  year  to  this  company,  and  another 
to  this,  and  two  years  to  this,  and  so  on, 
until  thou  shalt  have  delivered  thy  message 
to  all.  Meantime  I will  send  others  be- 
fore thy  face  who  shall  prepare  thy  way 
before  thee.  I will  also  cause  others  to 
follow  thee,  and  enter  into  thy  labors,  so 
that  the  fruit  thereof  shall  not  be  lost. 


86 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Our  system  carries  the  gospel  and  its  ordinances  where 
they  could  not  be  carried  upon  any  other  plan — Affect- 
ing picture  of  moral  desolations  incident  to  the  oppo- 
site scheme — These  avoided  by  Methodism — Keeps 
churches  supplied,  and  ministers  employed. 

Our  system  enables  us  to  carry  the  gospel, 
and  the  ordinances  of  Christianity,  where 
they  could  not  be  carried  on  the  other  sys- 
tem, and  is,  consequently,  a more  effective 
instrumentality  in  the  accomplishment  of 
the  gospel  commission.  If  a place  is  able 
to  sustain  a minister,  and  sufficient  reasons 
exist  why  it  should  have  the  entire  services 
of  one,  our  plan  provides  for  its  steady  and 
permanent  supply. 

But  there  may  be  a great  many  places, 
within  a given  district  of  country,  not  one 
of  which  is  capable  of  sustaining  a minis- 
ter; and  yet  it  is  important  that  all  these 
places  should  be  steadily  supplied  with  all 
the  means  of  grace.  It  is  in  vain  to  sup- 
pose that  the  people  of  an  extensive  dis- 
trict of  country  will  travel  great  distances, 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  87 

to  some  central  point,  where  a large  parish 
church  may  be  located.  Now  our  itinerancy 
enables  us  to  reach  the  most  remote  and 
neglected  neighborhoods.  They  are  not 
favored  with  an  occasional  sermon  merely. 
Two  preachers,  placed  on  a circuit,  will 
travel  several  hundreds  of  miles  in  the 
course  of  a month,  and  supply  thirty  dif- 
ferent places  with  preaching,  as  often  as 
once  in  two  weeks.  And  should  there  be, 
within  the  bounds  of  the  circuit,  a place 
of  more  importance  than  the  rest,  arrange- 
ments may  be  made  to  supply  it  with 
preaching  on  every  sabbath-day.  Nor  are 
these  places  supplied  with  preaching  only. 
At  each  place  the  believers  are  formed  into 
societies,  or  branch  churches,  united  under 
the  pastorship  of  the  circuit.  Each  of 
these  churches  is  supplied  with  all  the 
ordinances  of  Christianity.  The  ecclesi- 
astical rights  and  privileges  of  each  mem- 
ber are  the  same  as  those  enjoyed  in  the 
more  favored  stations.  They  have  regular 
pastoral  supervision.  So  far  from  its  being 
necessary  that  there  should  be  church  edi- 
fices to  worship  in,  or  a population  able  or 


88  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

willing  to  support  a minister,  in  order  to 
secure  church  privileges,  it  is  enough  that 
a school-house,  or  a barn,  or  a private 
dwelling,  can  be  procured,  and  a very- 
small  number  of  believers  united.  It  is 
by  the  operation  of  this  plan  that  we  have 
been  able  to  follow  the  tide  of  immigration 
to  the  west,  and  preach  the  gospel  and  or- 
ganize churches  in  the  log  cabins  of  the 
remotest  frontier  settlers.  By  its  powerful 
and  effective  working,  these  small  societies 
are  fostered,  until  they  acquire  strength 
enough  to  stand  alone,  each  supporting  its 
own  minister ; and  even  until  the  original 
circuit,  divided  and  subdivided,  becomes, 
at  last,  a conference  territory,  with  its  mul- 
titude of  preachers,  its  districts,  circuits, 
and  stations. 

And  should  churches,  barely  able,  in 
their  highest  prosperity,  to  sustain  pastors, 
become  feeble,  this  plan  obviates  the  ne- 
cessity of  their  becoming  destitute.  They 
can  fall  back  into  the  contiguous  circuits. 
This  may  not  be  very  pleasant.  To  re- 
cede from  an  advanced  position  is  not 
usually  desirable.  But  churches,  like  in- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


89 


dividuals,  are  liable  to  adverse  changes. 
Now  what  can  churches  in  such  a condi- 
tion do  on  the  plan  of  a settled  ministry, 
elected  and  called  by  the  churches  them- 
selves ? Their  pastors  have  been  obliged 
to  leave  them,  and  they  need  not  call 
others.  By  just  such  disastrous  circum- 
stances, multitudes  of  churches  of  other 
denominations  have  been  broken  up.  The 
thorn  and  the  thistle  have  come  upon  their 
altars.  Others  are  obliged  to  remain  for  a 
long  time  without  the  ministry  of  the  word 
and  the  sacraments.  A sad  picture  of  de- 
solation, from  this  cause,  is  drawn  in  a 
Report  of  the  Directors  of  the  Missionary 
Society  of  Connecticut,  auxiliary  to  the 
A.  H.  M.  S.,”  published  in  the  Congrega- 
tional Observer : — 

“ In  making  their  twenty-fifth  annual 
report,  the  directors  deem  it  not  unsuitable 
to  glance  at  the  condition  of  the  feeble 
churches  in  this  state  a quarter  of  a cen- 
tury ago — as  the  review  will  present  a con- 
trast, which,  if  not  all  we  could  wish,  may 
still  be  enough  to  excite  our  warmest  gra- 
titude. A sermon  preached  in  the  year 


90  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

1814,  which  had  no  small  influence  in 
causing  the  organization  of  this  society, 
has  the  following  language  : 

“ ‘ That  there  are  desolations  in  this  state, 
will  not  be  questioned  by  any  minutely 
acquainted  with  our  circumstances.  Not 
a few  societies  have  ceased  to  hear  those 
doctrines  of  the  gospel  by  the  instrumen- 
tality of  which  the  Spirit  of  God  awakens, 
converts,  and  sanctifies  men.  A number 
of  churches  have  become  feeble,  and  by 
hard  struggling  prolong,  from  year  to  year, 
the  enjoyment  of  divine  institutions ; while 
some  have  long  since  fallen,  and  are  lying 
now  in  utter  desolation. 

‘ Societies  might  be  named,  where  the 
church  is  extinct  and  the  house  of  God  in 
mins.  The  blasts  of  winter  rave  through 
it,  the  flocks  of  summer  find  a shelter  in  it. 
The  sabbath  is  a holiday.  The  authority 
of  revelation  has  ceased  with  many,  and 
by  others  is  employed  to  sanction  doc- 
trines not  less  destructive  than  atheism. 
Preachers  are  patronized,  whose  object  it 
is  to  keep  the  audience  laughing  by  ridi- 
culing the  ministers  and  the  doctrines  of 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM.  91 

the  gospel.  A revival  of  religion  would 
be  regarded  with  as  virulent  enmity  as 
Jews  or  pagans  regarded  Christianity. 
There  are,  in  this  state,  districts  as  far  from 
heaven — and,  without  help,  as  hopeless  of 
heaven — as  the  pagans  of  Hindostan  or 
China. 

‘‘  ‘ From  these  wastes  also  sally  forth  the 
infidel,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour; 
the  Universalist,  to  quiet  profligates  in  sin, 
and  multiply  their  number;  the  political 
empiric,  to  augment  his  party ; and  the 
sectarian  of  every  name,  to  proselyte,  until 
a broad  circumference  around  shall  be- 
come as  divided,  and  weak,  and  desolate, 
as  Babel  itself.  Evil  communications  cor- 
rupt good  manners.  Their  word  eateth  as 
doth  a canker.  Facts,  lamentable  facts, 
may  be  found  in  this  state,  to  justify  these 
apprehensions.  There  are  at  this  moment, 
in  this  state,  waste  places  which  exert  pre- 
cisely the  kind  of  influence  which  we  have 
ascribed  to  them.’  ” 

The  report  from  which  the  above  is  ex- 
tracted is  signed,  ‘‘  Horace  Hooker,  Secre- 
tary, Hartford,  June  14, 1841.”  The  writer 


92 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


on  “ Ex-pastors,’’  in  the  article  published 
July  17, 1841,  on  the  causes  of  the  removal 
of  pastors,  makes  the  following  observation: 

‘‘  Truth  and  justice  also  demand  the 
statement,  that  the  smallness  of  numbers 
and  pecuniary  ability,  in  many  churches, 
have  broken  up  the  connection  between 
them  and  their  pastors,  who  were  settled 
with  the  fixed  determination  to  sustain 
privations,  and  endure  hardness  as  good 
soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  number  of 
churches  in  Vermont  represented  as  unable 
to  sustain  settled  pastors  has  thus  become 
as  great,  if  not  greater,  than  those  having 
the  requisite  ability.” 

The  application  of  missionary  funds 
collected  in  the  abler  churches,  for  the 
assistance  of  feebler  ones,  has  of  late  years 
obviated  or  remedied,  to  some  extent^  the 
difficulties  thus  eloquently  and  affectingly 
portrayed.  The  missionary  report  states, 
that  appropriations  were  made  the  past 
year  to  thirty-two  feeble  churches  in  Con- 
necticut.” 

But  the  abler  churches  will  have  some- 
thing to  do,  if  they  undertake  to  sustain,  in 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  93 

whole,  or  in  part,  settled  ministers  in  all 
the  feeble  churches  already  in  existence, 
and  also  to  found  churches  and  sustain 
pastors  in  all  places  where  they  are  needed. 

Now  no  such  reports  of  desolations  and 
destitutions  occur  in  the  history  of  Method- 
ism. The  superiority  of  its  economy  ap- 
pears in  this,  that  it  can  embrace  in  the 
circuits  all  those  churches  that  are  too 
feeble  for  self-support,  and  can,  in  the 
mean  time,  go  on  enlarging  the  boundaries 
of  its  domain,  by  raising  up  other  churches 
in  every  direction.  This  is  its  regular 
action.  Besides  its  aggressive  activity,  it 
wields  a conservative  poiver^  which  goes 
far  toward  explaining  the  fact  of  its  un- 
paralleled success.  And  if  it  be  necessary 
to  make  a temporary  application  of  mis- 
sionary funds  to  places  too  isolated  to  be 
brought  conveniently  into  circuit  relations, 
or  affected  by  other  peculiar  circumstances, 
Methodism  can  as  easily  avail  itself  of  this 
provision  as  any  other  system. 

It  prevents  the  serious  loss  which  accrues 
from  multitudes  of  ministers  being  with- 
out employment,  while  nearly  as  many,  if 


94  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

not  more,  churches  are  vacant.  This  state 
of  things  results  inevitably  from  the  elect- 
ing plan.  Neither  churches  nor  ministers 
will  be  in  haste  to  make  engagements, 
when  change  is  attended  with  so  much 
difficulty.  Why  should  a minister  accept 
a call  to  some  feeble  country  church,  un- 
able to  support  him  comfortably,  when  the 
very  next  mail  may  bring  a call  to  one  far 
more  eligible?  Why  should  he  expend 
his  money  and  time  in  traveling  far  west, 
for  a church,  when  a little  patient  waiting 
may  procure  him  one  where  he  would 
greatly  prefer  to  labor  ? It  is  too  much  to 
require  of  ministers  a readiness  to  sacrifice 
everything,  while  churches  are  disposed  to 
sacrifice  nothing.  It  is  an  uncontrollable 
consequence  of  this  plan,  that,  at  any  given 
period,  there  will  be  a number  of  churches 
without  pastors,  and  ministers  without 
churches.  Not  so  v/ith  ours.  Each  min- 
ister holds  himself  in  readiness  to  be  sent, 
and  each  church  holds  itself  in  readiness 
to  receive  the  messenger,  saying,  “ How 
beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet 
of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings Hence 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


95 


we  have  not  a throng  of  ministerial  idlers 
crowding  the  market  places,  waiting  to  be 
hired,  or  negotiating  the  terms  on  which 
they  will  go  to  work  in  the  vineyard. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Additional  objections  considered — The  Methodist  itine- 
rant ministry  shown  to  be  permanent — Favorable  to 
the  diffusion  of  religious  knowledge  and  to  growth  in 
piety. 

I NOW  proceed  to  notice  some  other  objec- 
tions. 

Mr.  Tyler,  in  his  Congregational  Cate- 
chism, at  the  close  of  his  article  on  the 
Constitution  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  objects  that  our  system  is  “ con- 
trary ” to  the  “ highest  advancement  of  the 
members  in  Christian  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience.” This,  he  says,  requires  a “ per- 
manent ministry.”  What  does  he  mean 
by  a permanent  ministry  ? He  either  mis- 
apprehends the  facts  of  the  case,  or  is 
somewhat  unfortunate  in  his  phraseology. 
The  itinerant  Methodist  ministry  is  per- 


96  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

manent.  It  is  coDstant  and  unceasing. 
Much  is  said  about  ‘‘  the  permanency  of 
the  pastoral  relation.’’  Perhaps  this  is  what 
he  has  reference  to.  Here,  as  I have 
shown,  our  ministry  has  the  advantage 
greatly.  Our  pastoral  relation  never  ceases, 
never  intermits,  so  long  as  we  possess  the 
requisite  qualifications.  The  mere  change 
of  a pastor,  from  one  part  of  the  field  to 
another,  does  not  suspend  the  relation. 
The  very  act  which  dissolves  his  pastoral 
relation  to  one  church  places  him  in  the 
same  relation  to  another.  The  churches 
are  never  without  pastors.  The  pastors 
are  never  without  churches.  Whereas, 
on  his  system,  multitudes  of  ministers  are 
thrown  out  of  that  relation,  while  their 
eligibility  is  unimpaired,  and  while  multi- 
tudes of  churches  are  destitute  of  pastors. 
This  ambiguous  phraseology  is  designed 
to  signify  a permanent  union  between  a 
particular  church  and  a particular  minis- 
ter. But  if  this  be  necessary  to  constitute 
a permanent  ministry,  and  to  secure  the 
highest  edification  and  improvement  of 
the  people,”  the  permanent  ministry  in- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  97 

eludes  but  a very  few  individuals ; and  but 
very  few  of  the  churches — even  of  those 
which  elect  their  pastors — are  favored  with 
the  advantages  described. 

I acknowledge  that  if  it  can  be  made  to 
appear  that  our  system  is  less  effective 
than  any  other,  in  accomplishing  any  of 
the  leading  objects  of  the  Christian  minis- 
try, an  important  point  will  be  gained  by 
the  objector.  The  grand  reason  why  we 
prefer  it  will  be  invalidated.  It  has  often 
required  immense  sacrifices,  and  the  cheer- 
fulness with  which  they  have  been  submit- 
ted to,  has  arisen  from  the  conviction,  that 
it  is  the  most  effective  in  promoting  the 
spread  and  advancement  of  holiness.  And 
we  still  think  that  a reference  to  results  will 
justify  this  preference. 

The  author  of  the  Catechism  does  not 
go  into  particulars,  and  show  how  his 
system  exemplifies  its  superiority  in  this 
respect.  This  was  prevented  doubtless  by 
the  brevity  which  his  plan  required.  The 
argument  is,  however,  ably  presented  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Porter  of  Farmington,  in  an 
essay  on  the  “ Permancy  of  the  Pastoral 
7 


98  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

Relation/’  which  appeared  in  the  New- 
York  Evangelist,  February  22, 1844.  Dr, 
Porter  is  not  professedly  objecting  to  our 
system,  but  to  the  policy  of  frequent 
changes,  and  especially  in  the  ministry  of 
the  Congregational  churches. 

I refer  to  his  essay  because  it  contains 
the  arguments  usually  urged  against  our 
itinerancy.  He  remarks ; A minister  who 
has  only  a transient  connection  with  a 
church  needs  but  a few  discourses,  and 
will  be  furnished  with  but  few.  These  for 
the  most  part  will  be  composed  on  the 
more  prominent  topics  of  the  gospel,  or 
those  which  are  best  adapted  to  popular 
effect.  With  the  delivery  of  them  his  work 
begins  and  ends,  and,  being  done,  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  same  thing  over  again,  with 
some  variety  of  voice  and  manner,  by  the 
ministration  of  another.  Under  such  in- 
structions, unless  the  defect  be  supplied  by 
other  means,  the  churches,  if  not  as  chil- 
dren, tossed  to  and  fro  and  carried  about 
by  every  wind  of  doctrine — are  yet  chil- 
dren, instead  of  being  carried  forward  ac- 
cording to  the  design  of  the  Christian  min- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  99 

istry,  ^ unto  a perfect  man,  unto  the  mea- 
sure of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ.’ 
This  design,  to  say  the  least,  is  best  attain- 
ed by  the  stated  instructions  of  ‘ pastors 
and  teachers.’  They  are  obliged,  by  the 
sameness  of  their  auditories,  ‘ to  bring 
forth  continually  from  their  treasuries,  as 
wise  householders,  things  new  and  old;’ 

‘ to  give  attendance  to  reading,  to  medita- 
tion, to  doctrine,  that  their  profiting  may 
appear  unto  all ; to  acquire  that  various 
learning,  and  employ  it  to  give  that  inte- 
rest, variety,  comprehensiveness,  and  effect, 
to  their  ministrations,  without  which,  when 
the  chain  of  novelty  is  gone,  their  hold  on 
their  hearers  must  soon  be  enfeebled.” 
The  doctor  also  instances  the  appropri- 
ateness of  the  ministrations  of  the  settled 
ministry.  They  are  not  the  random  dis- 
courses of  a stranger,”  &c. 

This  description  of  the  transient  minister 
may  apply  to  the  candidate,  and  stated 
supplies,  of  those  churches  which  elect  their 
pastors ; but  it  is  not  to  be  taken  as  a just 
portraiture  of  the  Methodist  ministry.  The 
number  of  discourses  required  by  a min- 


100  I POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

istry  of  two  years,  in  a station,  is  not  so 
inconsiderable.  Suppose  that  two  are  re- 
quired on  each  sabbath,  the  whole  number 
will  be  two  hundred  and  eight.  And  if 
these  are  composed  mostly  on  the  lead- 
ing topics  ” of  the  gospel,  I apprehend  this 
will  be  no  disadvantage.  These  are,  after 
all,  the  most  important  topics,  and  there 
will  be  need  of  their  coming  up  frequently. 
Nor  does  the  work  of  an  itinerant  Method- 
ist minister  begin  and  end  with  the  de- 
livery of  his  sermons.  He  is  required  to 
attend  to  the  whole  round  of  pastoral 
duties.  His  case  may  be  compared  with 
that  of  a Congregational  or  Presbyterian 
pastor  who  should  serve  his  congregation 
faithfully  for  two  years,  and  then  be  re- 
moved by  death.  Nor  is  it  certain  that 
his  successor  will  go  over  precisely  the 
same  ground.  The  fact  of  Methodist 
preachers  succeeding  each  other,  as  they 
do,  makes  it  a dangerous  thing  for  them 
to  preach  each  other’s  sermons,  or  to  bor- 
row from  a common  source,  as  may  be 
done  by  a settled  ministry.  They  are  sure 
to  be  detected  in  either  of  these  practices. 


POLITY  OP  METHOD1S31.  101 

They  must  make  their  own  sermons. 
There  will,  therefore,  in  all  probability,  be 
a great  variety  in  the  manner  in  which 
they  discuss  the  leading  topics  of  the  gos- 
pel. Nor  can  I believe  that  the  preaching 
of  the  Congregationalists  and  Presbyte- 
rians is  so  stereotyped,  that  one  minister 
cannot  follow  another  without  repeating 
just  what  his  predecessor  has  said.  The 
representation  of  Dr.  Porter  appears  to  me 
to  be  too  strong  for  the  facts  of  the  case. 


CHAPTER  XY. 

Our  system  provides  suitably  for  the  universal  fondness 
for  novelty — Probable  result  of  systematic  and  judi- 
cious change  of  pastors  in  other  denominations— ^Afi 
ords  ample  opportunity  for  giving  varied  instruction. 

It  must  be  admitted,  that  ministers  settled 
for  life  will  be  obliged  to  study  laboriously, 
if  they  retain  their  hold  upon  their  congre- 
gations. But  how  few  succeed  ? I mean, 
how  few  of  the  great  number  licensed  and 
ordained.  This  may  be  owing,  in  some 
instances,  to  indolence  or  inability.  Many, 
however,  neither  indolent  nor  unqualified, 


102  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

will  often  be  under  the  necessity  of  coming 
before  the  people  with  crude  productions, 
badly  arranged,  badly  written,  and  badly 
delivered.  The  various  calls  and  duties, 
the  numerous  unforeseen  hinderances,  to 
which  a pastor  is  liable,  will  often  make 
the  work  of  preparation  a very  hurried 
process ; and  so  far  from  appropriateness 
being  the  thing  considered,  the  inquiry 
will  be.  How  shall  I procure  something  to 
say  ? It  is  not  an  easy  work  to  prepare 
good  sermons.  Many  settled  ministers  re- 
peat their  old  ones  with  great  frequency, 
sometimes  in  connection  with  the  same 
text  of  Scripture,  and  sometimes  with  a 
change  of  text.  And  should  their  dis- 
courses be  all  suitably  elaborated,  and 
characterized  by  the  desired  variety  and 
appropriateness,  it  will  still  be  difficult  for 
them  to  keep  up  the  attention  and  interest 
of  their  congregations  for  a long  series  of 
years.  The  people  become  familiar  with 
their  style  of  thought  and  expression. 
They  may  bring  out  of  their  treasuries 
new  things,  but  their  hearers  will  scarcely 
distinguish  them  from  the  old.  Of  what 


POLITY  OF  3IETHODISM. 


103 


avail  will  be  all  their  labor  if  it  is  not  ap- 
preciated ? So  far  as  my  observation  and 
information  have  gone,  the  ablest  settled 
ministers,  as  a general  rule,  lose  their 
power  to  affect  their  congregations  greatly 
on  the  subject  of  religion,  after  preaching 
to  them  two  or  three  years.  They  may 
keep  up  their  reputation  for  learning,  for 
eloquence,  for  piety.  They  may  be  re- 
garded, and  justly  so,  as  the  ablest  minis- 
ters of  the  places  where  they  are  settled. 
They  may  be  sustained  by  the  intellectual 
and  wealthy  portions  of  society,  and  by 
the  influence  of  powerful  families;  but 
they  will  not  often  be  the  immediate  in- 
struments of  revivals.  Inquire  into  the 
history  of  the  revivals  occurring  in  their 
churches,  should  there  be  any,  and  you 
will  find  that,  passing  over  the  first  two  or 
three  years  of  their  settlement  in  any  place, 
the  immediate  instrumentality  has  been 
the  labors  of  some  stranger,  who  has  had 
no  other  advantage  over  the  settled  minis- 
ter than  the  power  with  which  novelty  in- 
vested him.  Undoubtedly  it  is  from  this 
source  that  evangelists  derive  much  of 


104  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

their  ability  to  stir  the  comrrmnities  in 
which  they  labor.  This  desire  for  novelty 
may  be  denounced  as  an  evil — a thing  to 
be  discouraged,  if  not  wholly  suppressed. 
That  it  is  adverse  to  the  interests  of  a set- 
tled ministry  is  obvious.  But  I ask,  Is  it 
not  natural  ? Has  it  not  been  planted  in 
our  natm*e  for  wise  purposes?  Would 
not  the  absence  of  it  produce  a most  un- 
wholesome stagnation  in  society  ? Is  not 
that  plan  of  distributing  ministerial  labor 
the  best,  which,  while  it  provides  uninter- 
rupted pastoral  oversight  and  instruction, 
avails  itself  of  the  great  power  of  change  ? 
Does  not  that  system  which  makes  no 
such  provision  contravene  an  original  law 
of  human  nature?  Would  it  be  a great 
disadvantage,  on  the  score  of  piety  and 
Christian  knowledge,  to  the  churches  con- 
cerned, if  certain  eminent  men  in  this  com- 
munity, whom  I forbear  to  name,  were  to 
change  places,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Methodist  ministry  ? What  churches  in 
the  country  would  suffer  in  these  respects 
by  two  years’  ministerial  service  from  any 


POLITY  OF  MF/rHODISM.  105 

one  of  them  ? Would  not  such  a period 
be  memorable  in  the  history  of  any  church  ? 
His  discourses  would  not  be  regarded  as 
the  random  discourses  of  a stranger,  and  in- 
appropriate. ‘ And  if  each  particular  church 
should  not  gain  by  every  change,  the  ag- 
gregate of  gain  to  all  the  churches  would 
be  equal  to  the  entire  amount  of  whole- 
some mental  stimulus  secured  by  the  judi- 
cious change  of  a host  of  able  ministers  of 
the  new  covenant. 

But  selfishness  or  bigotry  would  sug- 
gest that  I should  forego  this  course  of 
remark  ; for  if  some  denominations,  which 
I could  name,  were  to  adopt  our  system, 
with  their  richly  endowed  and  carefully 
selected  ministry,  there  would  be  such  a 
stir  among  their  churches  and  the  commu- 
nities in  which  they  are  located  as  they 
have  never  seen,  and  we  should  be  divested 
of  one  of  our  prominent  advantages. 

Dr.  Porter  admits  that  “ there  is  less 
novelty  in  the  ministrations  of  the  same 
persons  from  year  to  year,  than  in  those 
of  a succession  of  individuals,'^  and  that 


106  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

‘‘so  far  as  this  alone  may  be  supposed  to 
have  influence,  they  are  less  suited  to  fix 
the  attention  and  move  the  heart.”  But 
does  not  the  great  secret  of  success  in 
preaching  consist  in  fixing  the  attention 
and  moving  the  heart?  What  if  there 
should  not  be  quite  so  great  a variety  of 
topics  in  the  preaching  of  an  itinerant 
ministry,  will  not  that  preaching,  which  in- 
vests with  frequent  and  exciting  interest 
the  great  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity, 
be  likely  to  do  more  good  than  that  which 
discusses  them  on  distant  occasions,  and 
with  less  interest,  filling  up  long  intervals 
with  discourses  on  subordinate  topics,  to 
avoid  the  appearance  of  sameness?  He 
further  admits  “ that  there  are  also  indi- 
viduals whose  constitutional  susceptibili- 
ties or  habits  of  life  are  better  suited  to  a 
reception  of  truth  in  one  form  than  an- 
other ; and  who  would,  therefore,  in  some 
instances,  be  profited  by  a change  of  the 
ministry,  even  though  the  succeeding  one 
were,  on  the  whole,  to  be  no  better  than 
the  former.” 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  107 

This  is  a very  important  consideration. 
He  also  adds:  “ There  are  those,  too, whose 
prejudices  prevent  that  benefit  from  the 
pastor  under  whom  they  live  which  they 
would  receive  from  another.”  This  fact 
should  not  be  overlooked. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Our  system  not  unfavorable  to  study  and  pulpit  prepara- 
tion—Opinion  of  Rev.  Dr.  Baird — Practice  of  Presi- 
dent Davies — Provides  adequate  security  against  false 
teachers — Does  not  deprive  the  churches  of  resident 
pastors  and  teachers — Past  usefulness — Adapted  to  a 
crowded,  as  well  as  a sparse,  population. 

It  is  objected  that  frequent  change  inter- 
feres with  the  pastor’s  opportunities  for 
study,  and  thus  influences  unfavorably  his 
qualifications  for  usefulness.  There  are 
two  sides  to  this  question.  Each  system 
has  its  advantages  and  its  disadvantages. 
The  settled  minister  will  be  hard  pressed 
for  sermons.  It  is  often  matter  of  com- 
plaint that  the  studies,  by  which  a prepa- 
ration for  entering  upon  the  duties  of  the 
pastor  is  acquired,  are  laid  aside  after  those 


108  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

duties  are  commenced.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Methodist  itinerant  may  gain  oppor- 
tunities for  pursuing  any  particular  branch 
of  study  which  he  may  deem  important. 
He  can,  if  necessary,  repreach  his  sermons. 
They  will  be  as  fresh  to  his  new  hearers 
as  if  prepared  expressly  for  the  occasion 
of  their  delivery.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Baird,  in 
his  recently  published  work  on  Religion 
in  America,”  speaks  of  this  privilege  as  a 
very  great  advantage.  He  remarks  : ‘‘  But 
the  grand  advantage  possessed  by  the  Me- 
thodist itinerant  preacher,  and  one  which, 
if  he  has  any  talent  at  all,  he  cannot  fail 
to  profit  by,  is,  that  he  may  preach  sooner 
or  later  in  many  or  all  of  the  eight,  ten,  or 
more,  places  in  his  circuit,  the  discourse 
with  which  he  sets  out,  and  which  he  has 
been  preparing  during  the  intervals  of  re- 
pose which  he  enjoys.  This  frequent 
repetition  of  the  same  sermon  is  an  inesti- 
mable means  of  improvement.  Each  re- 
petition admits  of  some  modification,  as 
the  discourse  is  not  written  out,  and  ena- 
bles the  preacher  to  improve  what  is  faulty, 
and  to  supply  what  seemed  deficient  in 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  109 

the  preceding  effort.  No  men  accordingly, 
with  us,  become  readier  or  more  effective 
speakers.” 

The  Rev.  x^lbert  Barnes,  in  his  Intro- 
ductory Essay  on  the  Life  and  Times  of 
President  Davies,”  quotes  with  approba- 
tion the  following  : “ Mr.  Davies  wrote  and 
prepared  his  sermons  with  great  care  ; this 
he  was  enabled  to  do,  notwithstanding  the 
great  and  multiplied  pastoral  duties  which 
he  had  to  perform,  from  the  fact  that  he 
had  so  many  places  of  preaching,  and  that 
they  were  so  wide  apart,  that  one  sermon 
could  be  preached  through  his  extensive 
range  without  much  danger  of  any  of  his 
hearers  having  heard  the  same  sermon 
twice.  His  common  practice  was  to  take 
his  manuscripts  with  him  into  the  pulpit, 
and  make  more  or  less  use  of  them  in  de- 
livering his  discourses.  But  his  memory 
was  such,  and  the  frequent  use  he  was 
permitted  to  make  of  the  same  sermon 
rendered  it  so  familiar,  that  he  was  never 
trammeled  in  his  delivery.”  In  conse- 
quence of  this  one  privilege,  many  Me- 
thodist preachers  have  risen  from  small 


110  POLITV  OF  METHODISM. 

beginnings  to  respectability,  if  not  emi- 
nence,  in  general  information,  classical 
attainments,  and  usefulness  ; while,  from 
the  want  of  it,  many  educated  men  have 
come  down  to  a level  with  the  unedu- 
cated. 

Dr.  Porter  claims  in  favor  of  a settled 
ministry  that  the  churches  arc  “ not  dis- 
tracted with  various  schemes  and  contra- 
dictory statements  of  doctrine,  but  are 
trained  under  the  same  scheme,  in  the 
apprehension  of  which  they  are  built  up 
in  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Son  of  God.”  Whether  this 
uniformity  be  so  great  an  advantage  or 
not,  will,  of  course,  depend  upon  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  doctrines  taught.  It  is 
possible  that  a change  in  the  scheme  of 
doctrinal  instruction  might  be  of  service. 
Some  of  the  advocates  of  a settled  ministry 
have  thought  so  in  some  instances.  Nor 
is  a permanent  union  between  one  pastor 
and  one  church  security  against  distracting 
changes.  Ministers  change.  And  I may 
venture  to  suggest  that  churches  have  as 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  Ill 

often  been  distracted  from  this  cause  as 
the  other. 

Mr.  Tyler  further  objects  that  “it  takes 
from  the  brethren  the  right  of  choosing 
their  religious  teachers  ; on  which  right, 
more  than  any  other,  the  church  depends 
for  defense  against  false  and  incompetent 
teachers.”  I shall  postpone  the  question 
of  the  alledged  right  of  the  brethren,  until 
1 have  done  with  the  practical  working  of 
the  system.  I shall  now  examine  the 
charge  that  it  deprives  the  church  of  the 
chief  “ implement  of  defense  against  false 
and  incompetent  teachers.”  That  Con- 
gregational and  Presbyterian  churches  are 
greatly  dependent  upon  this  privilege,  for 
security  against  the  specified  evil,  I grant. 
Take  it  from  them,  and  they  would  be  in 
a wholly  defenseless  condition.  They 
have  no  supervision  over  the  education  or 
licensure  of  candidates.  And  if  those  who 
are  introduced  into  the  ministry  without 
their  consent,  might  also  be  made  their 
pastors  without  their  consent,  they  would 
have  just  cause  for  apprehension.  But 


112  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

the  Structure  of  Methodism  provides  secu- 
rities peculiar  to  itself,  and  they  are  not 
less  effective  than  those  which  characterize 
any  other  system. 

For,  besides  the  fact  already  stated, 
namely,  that  no  man  can  become  eligible 
to  the  pastoral  office  until  he  has  passed 
several  times  under  the  review  of  the 
church  of  which  he  is  a member,  being- 
first  recommended  by  the  leaders’  meeting 
for  license  to  exhort  merely — then  recom- 
mended by  the  same  body  to  the  quarterly 
meeting  conference  for  license  as  a local 
preacher — then  licensed  by  the  vote  of  a 
majority  of  the  quarterly  meeting  confer- 
ence— then  recommended  by  the  latter 
body  to  the  annual  conference  as  an  itine- 
rant— when  admitted  into  the  itinerancy 
securities  of  a new  description  begin  to 
operate.  These  are  found,  partly  in  the 
integrity  of  the  ministry  as  a body,  and 
partly  in  their  interests.  Should  he  prove 
incompetent  to  teach,  or  should  he  teach 
false  doctrines,  a complaint  may  be  pre- 
ferred against  him.  His  case  will  come 
by  a regular  process  before  the  annual 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  113 

conference.  And  if  other  motives  might 
be  deemed  insufficient  to  secure  the  pro- 
tection of  the  churches  from  the  mischief 
which  his  ministry  inflicts,  the  interests 
of  the  whole  conference  are  deeply  impli- 
cated in  the  case.  Some  member  of  the 
body  ecclesiastical  must  succeed  him,  and 
meet  the  difficulties  which  he  has  engen- 
dered. Were  the  minister  a Congrega- 
tionalist,  and  the  church  Congregational, 
no  one  would  be  obliged  to  take  his 
place.  If  the  interests  of  the  church 
were  deeply  wounded,  and  its  strength 
greatly  impaired,  the  ministers  might  wag 
their  heads  at  it,  and  suffer  it  to  go  down. 
Not  so  a Methodist  church  and  Methodist 
ministers.  The  damage  must  be  repaired, 
or  endured  by  the  ministry  as  well  as  by 
the  church.  Each  member  of  the  confer- 
ence is  bound,  by  the  terms  of  the  ministe- 
rial compact,  to  hold  himself  in  readiness 
to  go  there,  it  may  be  to  labor  and  suffer 
to  the  extent  of  his  capabilities,  and  see  but 
little  desirable  fruit. 

The  author  of  the  Catechism  further 
objects  that  it  deprives  the  churches  of 
8 


114  POLITY  OP  METHODISM. 

resident  pastors  and  teachers,  contrary  to 
primitive  practice,  and  to  the  highest  ad- 
vancement of  the  members  in  Christian 
knowledge  and  experience.” 

In  what  way  does  it  deprive  the  churches 
of  resident  pastors  and  teachers  ? Our  itine- 
rant preachers  sustain  the  relation  of  pas- 
tors and  teachers  as  much  as  do  the  settled 
ministers  of  other  denominations.  And  I 
have  shown  that  our  system  has  this  very 
great  advantage  over  the  one  with  which 
it  is  compared — that  it  keeps  the  churches 
constantly  supplied  with  pastors.  They 
are  not  liable  to  either  the  temporary  or 
permanent  destitutions  which  occur  in  con- 
nection with  the  other  system.  Nor  can 
it  be  said  that  our  pastors  are  not  resident 
with  their  charge.  . I cannot  but  think  that 
the  worthy  author  was  at  a loss  for  mate- 
rial out  of  which  to  form  an  objection 
when  he  penned  this.  And  how  he  could 
fall  into  such  a misapprehension  of  facts 
is  to  me  unaccountable. 

Mr.  Tyler  proposes  the  question : “ Has 
not  the  Methodist  itinerant  system  been 
productive  of  great  good  and  answers 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  115 

it  as  follows : Undoubtedly  that  feature 

of  the  Methodist  economy  has  conduced 
much  to  its  rapid  growth  and  advance- 
ment. But  it  seems  to  be  adapted  to 
the  early  operations  of  a new  sect,  rather 
than  to  the  highest  edification  and  im- 
provement of  the  people.  This  requires 
a permanent  ministry.”  To  this  I reply, 
that  this  system  has  been  in  operation  in 
England  for  a century,  and  for  nearly  a 
century  in  this  country,  and  we  do  not 
find  in  it  as  yet  any  want  of  adaptation  to 
the  great  work  of  the  Christian  ministry. 
It  loses  nothing  of  its  efficacy  by  age.  The 
Methodists,  in  both  countries,  outstrip  all 
other  sects  in  their  career  of  usefulness, 
notwithstanding  their  competitors  in  the 
noble  strife  have  been  so  much  longer  in 
the  field. 

That  our  itinerancy  is  specially  adapted 
to  new  countries  and  a sparse  population 
is  obvious.  It  is  no  less  adapted  to  older 
countries,  and  a crowded  population.  It 
is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  find  neigh- 
borhoods contiguous  to  the  great  cities  as 
destitute  of  religious  means  and  influence 


116 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


as  the  most  distant  and  isolated  portions 
of  the  country,  and  far  more  vicious,  on 
account  of  their  ready  access  to  those  fa- 
cilities for  vice  which  cities  afford.  These 
places  are  not  likely  to  be  supplied  on  the 
plan  of  a settled  ministry.  The  whole 
population  of  each  place  might  be  unable 
to  support  a minister,  and,  if  able,  they 
would  not  be  likely  to  call  one.  They 
must  first  be  sought  out  and  made,  by  pa- 
tient instruction,  to  appreciate  the  gospel. 
The  first  preachers,  if  faithful,  will  be  far 
more  likely  to  meet  with  persecution  than 
a liberal  support.  Now  the  tendency  of  a 
settled  ministry  is  not  to  such  places.  They 
crowd  into  large  cities.  The  greater  the 
population,  the  greater  the  probability  of  a 
large  church,  and  a competent  support. 
Our  plan  enables  us  to  take  all  these  places 
into  circuits,  and  to  supply  them  with 
regular  preaching  and  pastoral  supervision. 

The  greatest  difficulties  of  the  itinerancy' 
are  found  in  new  and  thinly  settled  coun- 
tries. The  conferences,  districts,  and  cir- 
cuits, must  be  spread  over  a wider  terri- 
tory. The  stations  must  be  at  a greater 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM.  117 

distance  from  each  other.  The  toil  and  in- 
convenience of  removals  axe  so  much  the 
greater,  and  also  of  continued  traveling 
around  districts  and  circuits.  To  one  who 
has  any  understanding  of  the  philosophy 
of  Methodism,  it  must  be  at  once  apparent, 
that  every  new  city  or  village  which  springs 
up  operates  in  our  favor,  by  bringing  our 
churches  into  close  contiguity.  Every  new 
road  opened,  every  old  one  repaired,  every 
turnpike,  every  canal,  every  foot  of  rail- 
road, every  new  steamboat,  every  bridge, 
is  so  much  added  to  our  facilities.  It  is 
as  if  the  whole  community  were  at  work 
to  cast  up  a highway  for  us.  Our  ends 
are  answered  just  as  much  as  if  the  money 
were  subscribed  and  the  work  done  by  us, 
or  by  others  for  our  special  benefit.  The 
friction  of  our  ecclesiastical  machinery  is 
continually  diminishing. 

And  what  is  thus  working  to  our  ad- 
vantage, is  operating  against  the  other  sys- 
tem. Parishes  are  no  longer  secluded. 
They  are  constantly  visited  by  strangers. 
The  people  will  hear  new  voices,  and  be 
captivated  by  novelty.  The  settled  minis- 


118  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

ter  will  have  to  work  hard  to  retain  the 
preferences  of  his  hearers.  They  will  tra- 
vel more,  hear  a greater  variety  of  ministers 
abroad,  and  thus  widen  the  field  of  com- 
parison. The  minister  himself,  if  he  is  not 
quite  satisfied,  can  talte  a trip  of  several 
hundreds  of  miles;  give  specimens  of  his 
eloquence  to  several  difierent  congregations 
in  the  course  of  a week  or  two ; and  thus 
open  the  way  for  a call. 


CHAPTER  XYH. 

Unfounded  comparison  between  Congregational  and 
Presbyterian  evangelists  and  missionaries,  and  the 
itinerant  ministers  of  the  M.  E.  Cliurch— rCbncio  ad 
Clerum  of  Rev.  A.  Newton— The  operations  of  evan- 
gelists and  missionaries  incongruous  with  the  interests 
of  a settled  ministry. 

Lest  it  should  be  supposed  that  our 
system  has  in  any  respect  the  advantage 
of  Congregationalism,  Mr.  Tyler  adds : 
“ And  it  should  also  be  recollected,  in  in- 
stituting a comparison  between  the  Con- 
gregational and  Methodist  systems,  that 
the  employment  of  traveling  preachers, 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM.  119 

although  reduced  to  a system  and  carried 
to  a great  extent  by  the  Methodists,  is  not 
unknown  to  Congregationalism.  Evan- 
gelists^ and  missionaries  are  not  confined 
to  tlie  care  of  a single  church  ; and  it  would 
be  in  perfect  keeping  with  Congregational 
order  to  supply  new  and  thinly  inhabited 
regions  with  an  itinerant  ministry.’’  He 
would  persuade  his  readers  that  Congrega- 
tionalism unites,  or  may  unite,  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  itinerant  system  of  the 
Methodists  with  the  superior  advantages 
of  a settled  ministry. 

That  Congregationalists  employ  evan- 
gelists and  missionaries,  we  admit;  but 
their  missionary  operations  are  a mere  ap- 
pendage to  Congregational  order.  Let  the 
missionary  be  called  and  settled  ; in  other 
words,  let  him  become  a pastor,  according 
to  their  theory  of  constituting  pastors;  and 
he  ceases  to  be  a missionary.  He  belongs 
to  the  settled  ministry.  His  church  may 
receive  aid  from  the  funds  of  the  Mission- 
ary Society,  but  that  does  not  make  him 
a missionary.  Otherwise  a great  portion 
of  the  settled  ministers  of  Connecticut  are 


120  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

missionaries.  But  if  he  is  not  called  and 
settled  by  the  people  to  whom  he  minis- 
ters, upon  whose  authority  does  he  go  ? 

He  is  appointed  by  the  official  board  of 
the  Missionary  Society,  and  subject  to  its 
control.  Mr.  Tyler  says : “ Evangelists  and 
missionaries  are  not  confined  to  the  care 
of  a single  church.”  Is  this  designed  1o 
imply  that  they  have  pastoral  care  ? It 
cannot  be  pretended  that  evangelists  have. 
Nor  can  missionaries,  except  in  violation 
of  the  principles  of  Congregationalism  in 
reference  to  the  source  of  pastoral  authority. 

I should  like  to  be  informed  how  Con- 
gregationalists  could,  consistently  with  their 
order,  supply  “ new  and  thinly  inhabited 
regions  with  an  itinerant  ministry.”  A 
writer  in  the  New-Englander,  vol.  i,  page 
131,  proposes,  “ as  the  true  remedy  for  a 
surplusage  of  ministers  in  certain  districts, 
to  send  forth  to  other  regions  all  who  are 
properly  qualified,  and  to  put  them  to  work, 
and  keep  them  at  work,  where  their  labors 
will  be  effectual  for  the  advancement  of 
the  kingdom  of  God.”  Perhaps  this  is  the 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  121 

scheme.  I am  glad  to  see  this  recognition 
of  the  sending  principle. 

But  how  will  this  sending  comport  with 
the  alledged  right  of  the  people  to  elect  their 
teachers,  and  the  teachers  their  people? 
It  is  apparent  that,  to  remedy  the  difficulty 
complained  of,  it  is  necessary  for  them  to 
depart  altogether  from  their  boasted  theory ; 
and  the  alternative  to  be  adopted  is  one 
which  would  never  be  submitted  to  by  the 
equalizing  and  free  spirit  of  Methodism. 

But  Congregationalism  has  not  the  power, 
whether  legitimate  or  otherwise,  to  send  its 
surplusage  of  ministers  from  one  region  to 
another.  The  theological  schools  may 
send  forth  hundreds  every  year ; the  asso- 
ciations may  license  them,  and  thus  render 
them  eligible  to  the  pastoral  work ; but 
there  is  no  authority  which  can  require 
them  to  go  anywhere.  If  necessity,  or 
the  spirit  of  their  holy  calling,  should  in- 
duce them  to  place  themselves  under  the 
direction  and  control  of  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society,  still  the  power 
necessary  to  keep  them  employed  where 


122  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

their  labors  are  in  demand  does  not  exist. 
They  can  withdraw  themselves  from  the 
service  of  that  society,  and  crowd  the 
market  in  New-England,  leaving  vast 
numbers  of  churches  in  hopeless  destitu- 
tion. It  is  true,  a Methodist  minister  may 
withdraw  himself  from  the  field  assigned 
him,  but  in  so  doing  he  relinquishes  his 
eligibility  to  the  pastoral  relation. 

In  reference  to  evangelists,  it  is  the  opin- 
ion of  many  Congregationalists  and  Pres- 
byterians that  their  office  (if  office  they 
can  be  said  to  have)  is  quite  incongruous 
with  that  of  a settled  ministry.  Among 
the  papers  which  I have  preserved,  since 
the  attacks  of  Congregationalists  on  Me- 
thodism aroused  me  to  this  investigation, 
are  extensive  extracts  from  the  Condo  ad 
preached  by  Rev.  A.  Newton,  at 
a late  commencement  of  the  Western  Re- 
serve College,  on  the  subject  of  the  em- 
ployment in  the  churches  of  a class  of 
men  called  evangelists.  It  was  published 
in  the  Ohio  Observer  by  request  of  the 
ministers  who  heard  it.  The  extracts  are 
found  in  the  New-England  Puritan,  for 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  123 

Sept.  23, 1841,  the  editor  of  which  remarks : 
“ The  publication  of  such  a sermon  among 
the  churches  at  the  west  is  a token  for 
good.’’  I ask  attention  to  the  following 
passages : — 

“ Another  evil  of  the  system  is  its  un- 
happy effect  upon  the  pastoral  relation. 

It  is  a fact,  which  I think  will  not  be 
questioned,  that  where  evangelists  have 
labored  most,  there  the  pastoral  relation  has 
been  most  precarious.  A few  years  ago 
it  was  almost  a matter  of  course,  in  some 
portions  of  the  country,  that  the  dismissions 
of  the  pastor  followed  the  labors  of  the 
evangelist.  And  those  churches  which 
have  adopted  this  system  have  been  un- 
able, in  general,  to  retain  a pastor  above 
two  or  three  years.  There  are,  or  have  been, 
large  sections  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
where  a permanent  ministry  is  among  the 
things  that  were — whole  presbyteries  ex- 
ist with  scarcely  one  installed  pastor  with- 
in their  bounds.  These  very  sections  have 
been  the  theatre  of  the  new  system  of  opera- 
tions. So  uniformly  has  the  one  state  of 
things  followed  the  other,  that  we  must  be- 


124  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

lieve  they  sustain  to  each  the  relation  of 
cause  and  effect,  or  else  renounce  one  of 
the  first  maxims  of  sound  reasoning. 

“ But  can  we  not  see,  in  the  nature  of 
the  cause  itself,  that  which  would  lead  us 
to  expect  just  such  effects.  Is  there  not 
enough  in  the  novel,  eccentric,  theatrical, 
story-telling  style  of  preaching,  which  is 
sedulously  cultivated  by  many  evangelists, 
to  make  many  people  think  that  is  the  best 
way  of  preaching,  and  almost  the  only 
way  to  do  good  ? Is  it  not  easy  to  con- 
ceive that  a large  portion  of  almost  every 
congregation  may  be  so  captivated,  at  first, 
with  it,  that  they  would  be  dissatisfied  with 
any  other  ? Why,  the  Bible  itself  becomes 
a stale  book  to  minds  accustomed  to  such 
preaching.  The  burning  eloquence  of  Paul, 
even,  has  nothing  to  excite  them.  What 
wonder,  then,  is  it,  that  they  grow  tired  of 
their  pastor,  whose  voice  they  have  heard 
for  a score  of  years,  even  though  he  may 
preach  with  the  zeal  and  fervor  of  an  apostle ! 

“ But  there  is  another  way  in  which  this 
system  affects  the  pastoral  relation.  Most 
evangelists  deem  themselves  more  com- 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM.  125 

potent  than  the  pastor,  not  only  to  preach, 
but  to  manage  the  whole  revival.  They 
know  just  how  many  meetings,  and  at 
what  time  they  should  be  held,  better  than 
he  who  has  been  on  the  ground  twenty 
years.  They  therefore  insist  on  having  the 
sole  direction ; and  if  the  pastor  attempts 
to  resist  the  usurpation  of  his  rights,  he 
does  it  at  the  peril  of  exciting  against  him, 
not  only  the  opposition  of  the  evangelist, 
but  all  whom  he  can  enlist  in  his  behalf. 
Thus  the  foundation  is  speedily  laid  of 
disaffection  between  himself  and  his 
people,  and  of  ultimate  separation.  How 
many  dismissions  have  resulted  from  this 
cause  alone,  let  the  history  of  past  years 
decide.  What  division,  discord,  and  every 
evil  work,  have  been  connected  with  these 
movements, let  those  churches  testify  which 
have  been  brought  to  the  very  verge  of 
ruin  by  them.” 

So  much  for  Mr.  Tyler^s  attempt  to 
make  it  appear  that  the  operations  of  an 
intinerant  system  may  be  harmoniously 
united  with  the  Congregational  plan  of  a 
settled  ministry. 


126 


POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 


CHAPTER  XVIIL 

Methodism  does  not  deprive  its  churches  of  any  right  by 
its  mode  of  supplying  them  with  pastors. 

Mr.  Tyler  objects,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
the  Methodist  system  “takes  from  the 
brethren  the  right  of  choosing  their  reli- 
gious teachers.’^ 

There  is  a vagueness  in  the  phraseology 
of  this  objection,  which  makes  it  important 
that  we  should  ascertain  definitely  its  im- 
port. 

In  the  first  part,  the  objector  cannot  be 
understood  to  mean  that  our  system  inter- 
feres with  the  right  of  members  of  other 
denominations  to  choose  their  teachers ; 
or,  secondly,  that  it  denies  to  any  the  right 
to  join  whatever  denomination  they  may 
desire  to  join.  Methodists  become  and 
continue  such  of  their  free  choice.  If  any 
become  dissatisfied  with  Methodism,  or 
Methodist  preachers,  the  wide  field  of 
Christendom  is  before  them,  and  there  is 
no  restraint  upon  their  liberty.  If  he  mean 
to  be  understood  that  the  Methodist  laity 


POLITY  OP  METHODISM.  127 

have  nothing  to  say  in  determining  who 
shall  be  elevated  to  the  pastoral  office,  the 
objection  has  already  been  refuted.  But 
he  means  nothing  more,  it  is  presumed, 
than  that  particular  churches  or  congrega- 
tions among  the  Methodists  are  deprived 
of  their  right  to  elect  their  immediate  pas- 
tors. The  objection  is  refuted  by  the 
single  fact,  that  the  right  alledged  never  ex- 
isted. With  us,  churches  have  no  more 
right  to  elect  their  pastors,  than  pastors 
their  churches.  We  readily  grant  that  the 
Congregation alists,  the  Presbyterians,  the 
Baptists,  and  others,  have  this  right.  It  is 
conceded,  or  rather  created^  by  the  consti- 
tutions of  their  churches.  It  is  one  of  the 
terms  of  the  ecclesiastical  compact  into 
which  they  have  entered.  But  no  such 
right  is  acquired  by  becoming  a Methodist. 
It  is  not  in  the  compact.  On  the  contrary, 
a connection  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  implies  an  agreement  that  the 
ministry  shall  be  otherwise  appointed. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  affirmed  that  such  a 
compact  is  vicious — that  it  nullifies  a right 
conferred  by  a higher  charier,  the  New 


128  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

Testament.  Can  any  one  prove  this? 
Where  is  the  text?  Let  it  be  adduced, 
and  the  argument  is  at  an  end. 

Will  it  be  replied  that,  although  no 
statutory  clause  can  be  found,  primitive 
practice  determines  the  question?  We 
are  willing  to  abide  the  result  of  this  issue. 
Bring  forward,  then,  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment, a single  instance  of  a church  electing 
its  immediate  pastor.  I have  looked  in 
vain  for  one. 

My  impression  is,  that  a thorough  ex- 
amination of  the  sacred  oracles,  in  search 
of  examples  of  ministers  receiving  calls  to 
particular  charges,  and  entering  into  stipu- 
lations for  their  support,  would  lead  to 
some  mortifying  discoveries.  I confess 
that  I have  met  with  one  instance  in  the 
Old  Testament.  I refer  to  the  case  of  the 
Levite,  recorded  in  Judges,  chapter  xvii : 
He  departed  out  of  the  city  from  Bethle- 
hem-judah  to  sojourn  where  he  could  find 
a place.”  In  other  words,  he  was  traveling 
as  a candidate  for  a settlement.  “ And  he 
came  to  Mount  Ephraim,  to  the  house  of 
Micah.^’  This  Micah  had  a house  of 


POLITY  OF  MFTHODISM.  129 

gods,  and  made  an  ephod,  and  teraphim, 
and  consecrated  one  of  his  sons,  who  be- 
came his  priest.”  And  Micah  said  unto 
him,  Dwell  with  me,  and  be  unto  me  a 
father  and  a priest,  and  I will  give  thee 
ten  shekels  of  silver  by  the  year,  and  a 
suit  of  apparel,  and  thy  victuals.”  The 
Levite  accepted  the  call.  And  Micah 
consecrated  him,  and  he  became  his  priest.” 
Some  time  after  this  he  received  another 
call.  Certain  Danites  said  unto  him,  Go 
with  us,  and  be  to  us  a father  and  a priest : 
is  it  better  for  thee  to  be  a priest  unto  the 
house  of  one  man,  or  that  thou  be  a priest 
unto  a tribe,  and  a family  in  Israel?” 
This  reasoning  was  decisive.  He  was  not 
at  all  averse  to  promotion.  His  heart 
was  glad.”  He  took  the  image,  and  the 
ephod,  and  the  teraphim,  belonging  to 
Micah,  and  went  off’  to  serve  his  new  con- 
gregation. 

It  is  by  no  means  my  intention  to  give 
this  Levite  as  the  prototype  of  the  settled 
ministry.  In  its  ranks  Christianity  finds 
many  of  her  brightest  ornaments.  I cite 
it  as  the  only  instance  which  I can  find  in 


130  POLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

the  sacred  oracles  of  a minister  accepting 
a call  to  a particular  charge,  and  of  mutual 
contracting  between  him  and  his  charge, 
for  services  on  the  one  hand,  and  support 
on  the  other. 

So  far  as  the  New  Testament  is  con- 
cerned, every  example,  to  my  view,  looks 
the  other  way.  The  Saviour  sent  forth 
his  disciples  two  and  two,  assigning  them 
their  field  of  labor.  The  apostles  refused 
to  be  detained  in  any  place  by  the  most 
urgent  solicitation ; but,  regarding  all  the 
churches  as  their  joint  pastoral  care,  went 
here  and  there,  as  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  a 
sense  of  duty,  moved  them.  Paul  sent 
Titus,  and  another  not  named,  but  of 
whom  it  is  said,  “ His  praise  is  in  all  the 
churches,”  to  Corinth.  Subsequently,  he 
sent  Timothy  and  Erastus  into  Macedonia, 
with  instructions  to  include  Corinth  in 
their  field  of  labor.  He  sent  Tychicus  to 
Ephesus.  He  sent  Epaphroditus  to  the 
Philippian  Church,  and  expressed  a hope 
that  he  would  shortly  be  able  to  send 
Timothy  unto  them. 

Perhaps  we  shall  be  told  that  the 


POLITY  OF  METHOOISM.  131 

churches  of  the  New  Testament  elected 
their  own  officers.  This  is  a debatable 
proposition.  I hesitate  not  to  deny  it. 
But  if  it  should  be  granted  that  they  elect- 
ed other  officers,  the  proof  that  they  elected 
their  pastors  would  still  be  lacking,  and 
this  is,  at  present,  the  sole  point  in  dis- 
pute. 

It  may  be  thought,  however,  that,  if  it 
should  be  admitted  that  these  churches 
elected  any  of  their  officers,  a very  strong 
presumption  would  arise  that  they  elected 
all  their  officers,  including,  of  course,  their 
pastor.  We  think  otherwise.  Were  a 
foreigner,  speculating  upon  the  theory  and 
practice  of  American  republicanism,  to 
infer  that  all  the  officers  of  our  govern- 
ment are  elected  by  popular  suffrage,  from 
the  fact  that  some  are,  his  inference  would 
be  contradicted  by  facts  notorious  to  every 
intelligent  American. 

Failing  to  establish  this  alledged  right 
of  churches  to  elect  their  pastors,  either  by 
the  precept  or  practice  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, some  may  be  disposed  to  fall  upon 
the  pretence  that  it  is  a natural  right.  A 


132  rOLITY  OF  METHODISM. 

single  reflection  will  expose  the  absurdity 
of  this  view.  Natural  rights  belong  to  men 
as  men,  and  not  as  Methodists  or  Presby- 
terians. And  to  say  that  natural  rights 
may  be  acquired  by  joining  any  associa- 
tion would  be  to  perpetrate  a gross  sole- 
cism, It  would  be  to  destroy  the  very 
distinction  between  natural  and  conven- 
tional rights  upon  which  the  supposed  ar- 
gument of  the  objector  is  based.  But  who 
will  affirm  that  men  have  a right,  as  men — 
apart  from  their  religious  character,  or 
without  membership  in  any  church,  and 
independently  of  any  other  conventional 
privilege — to  say  what  particular  minister 
shall  be  the  pastor  of  this  or  that  congrega- 
tion ? No  one,  it  is  presumed.  The  re- 
sult is,  that  Methodism  deprives  no  one  of 
his  rights  by  its  mode  of  supplying  its 
churches  with  pastors. 


THE  END* 


V 


